Everyone knows the British Invasion of the 1960s with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Wikipedia offers these other bands and solo artists from that Invasion:
Bee Gees, Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Who, the Kinks, the Zombies, Small Faces, the Dave Clark Five, the Spencer Davis Group, the Yardbirds, Them, Manfred Mann, the Searchers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Freddie and the Dreamers, the Hollies, Herman’s Hermits, Chad and Jeremy, Peter and Gordon, the Animals, the Moody Blues, the Mindbenders, the Troggs, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Cream, Traffic, the Pretty Things, and Procol Harum, as well as solo singers such as Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black, Petula Clark, Tom Jones, Donovan, Shirley Bassey and Marianne Faithfull.
We in Santa Barbara were privileged to have Peter Noone and the current incarnation of his Herman’s Hermits performing here at the Lobero. A fundraiser for Notes for Notes. From their website: “Notes for Notes provides youth with FREE access to music instruments, instruction and recording studio environments so that music may become a profoundly positive influence in their lives.”
The organization was founded 20 years ago by Phil Gilley and Natalie Noone, who happens to be Peter Noone’s daughter. She was on hand to talk about Notes for Notes and to introduce her father. And then the concert was off and running!
Below is what I took down in my notes at the time and what I researched afterwards. I was amused when they played songs that weren’t really “theirs”. But when I researched this afterwards I realized none of this music was “theirs”! And that led to some surprising discoveries! But they made this music their own.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was how young and energetic Peter Noone is. And there is a reason: He was really still a child when it all began. He was just 15 when the band formed and just 17 when they first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1965. Here is a link to the YouTube playlist of their Ed Sullivan songs.
Their Lobero performance started off with “I’m Into Something Good”. I was sure this was one of “their” songs that they wrote. No. It turns out it was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King in 1964. A powerhouse team that wrote many songs of that era.
Next up were:
Wonderful World (Don’t Know Much About History) by Sam Cooke (1959)
Love Potion Number 9 by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller (1959)
Noone had fun talking about how he had finally made it because here they were at the Lobero Theater! He did a short parody singing about the Lobero to the tune of the Beach Boys’ “Barbara Ann”. (Guess what? That Barbara Ann was not written by the Beach Boys. It was written by Fred Fassert.)
On to these songs:
Dandy by the Kinks (1966)
A Must to Avoid by P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri (1965)
Ring of Fire by June Carter, Merle Kilgore (1963) (Not by Johnny Cash!)
Sea Cruise by Huey “Piano” Smith (1958)
with
Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu by Johnny Vincent, Huey Smith
Leaning on a Lamp-post by Noel Gay (1937)
I’ll Never Dance Again – Barry Mann & Mike Anthony (1962)
Peter Noone explained that many of his songs are sung with feeling based on real events in his live. In this case as a young teen he was on the dance floor and the boys were nervous about asking girls to dance. He finally got up the nerve to ask a girl to dance and she rejected him. He was devastated and could relate to this song.
It was the first song they played in a club. They got 4 pounds for it. They went for fish and chips, but it just paid for chips!
He talked about how in the 60s when they began 13 year old girls went to concerts. Dropped off by mothers. We just don’t have that anymore. The Beatles concert at Shea Stadium was filled with 13 year old girls.
And there is no way that 15 year old boys could play in clubs now. A band like theirs could not exist today.
On to these songs:
Just a Little Bit Better by Kenny Young (1965)
Silhouettes by Bob Crewe, Frank Slay (1957)
Listen People by Graham Gouldman (later of 10CC) (1965)
Jezebel by Wayne Shanklin (1951)
This started out with a dazzling guitar riff worthy of Jimi Hendrix!
Noone said he was recently on an Old English Christmas Tour. He is English and he is old and it was for Christmas. They were in New York City and JFK airport was snowed in.
On to play East West (What a great life) by Graham Gouldman (1966)
Noone said they were offered a TV series in the England. They would be assigned songs like Mame. A Google search shows no series ever happened. So he must have turned it down.
Noone introduced his band members:
Billy Sullivan plays guitar and bass
Vance Brescia – Guitar
Dave Ferrara – Drummer
Rich Spina – Keyboard
On to playing:
Start Me Up by the Rolling Stones
Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat by John Carter and Ken Lewis (1964)
Ferry Cross the Mersey (parody version with Mission Creek!)
Original by Gerry Marsden (1964)
Note: It turns out there is a reason Noone could talk about local places like Mission Creek. He actually lives in Santa Barbara now!
Travellin’ Light by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett (1959)
Noone paused to say that he got a job selling insurance. “That little green lizard was me.”
On to playing:
No Milk Today by Graham Gouldman (1966)
The End of the World by Arthur Kent and Sylvia Dee (1962)
(Was a Skeeter Davis hit)
Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter by Trevor Peacock (1964)
Glad All Over by Dave Clark and Mike Smith (1963)
Do Wah Diddy Diddy by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich (1964)
(Made famous by Manfred Mann)
I’m Henry the Eighth, I Am by Fred Murray, R. P. Weston
This was one of the biggest surprises for me. This was made famous by Harry Champion in 1910! The original had many lyrics and verses. It disappeared and was revived by Joe Brown in 1961. This very abridged version is similar to what Herman’s Hermits adopted. It turns out George Harrison was a fan of Joe Brown and the Beatles played this in their early years. But it was never recorded by them.
During the show, Peter Noone sometimes paused to make jokes directed at Alan Parsons. The young man sitting next to me spotted Alan Parsons a couple of rows back behind us on the right aisle. How cool!
The band ended with one of my favorites:
There’s a Kind of Hush by Geoff Stephens and Les Reed (1967)
I love watching concerts at the Lobero for many reasons. It is just big enough to get world class performers. But small enough to offer great views for almost everyone. They are also not so uptight about people sneaking some photos or even videos during most events. As long as they are discreet about it.
(Just one gripe now about the Lobero. I paid for our tickets back in September. But they do this annoying thing now where you can no longer print out your tickets at home. You have to wait until just before the show to get them. If anyone from the Lobero is reading this: Please bring back the ability to print our tickets at home when we pay for them. Thanks!)
I snagged a few shots near the end after many others were doing so. Here are all of my photos.
And below I will embed a few below. We were privileged to be sitting right in front. He periodically stepped off stage directly in front of us.
He really was that close to us at this moment. We could have reached out and touched him.
This was my favorite shot! So full of playful energy!
I also got this short video clip as they finished their “Kind of Hush” finale! Notice his socks. One has the English flag and the hidden one has the American flag.
For more information about the Notes for Notes program, please visit their web site here.
https://www.notesfornotes.org/
– Robert Bernstein
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