So tell us how you really feel about Rick Nelson, Phill FANG Volk

It's a lengthy read but intresting...

http://www.philfangvolk.com/rickynelson.html

 

He sounds like an insufferable jerk....and I am not talking about Rick Nelson.
But then again, who knows....I never met either of them.

PS Good Brian Wilson story about half way through.

 

This may be small potatoes in the context of the entire article, but it's funny how people can labor under a misapprehension for years and years and never question it:

Volk makes it sound like this was taking place during his short tenure with The Stone Canyon Band, but the Ricky to Rick transition actually took place in the early 60s, did it not?

 

Really? Someone who applies repeated pressure on you to do things you not only feel are wrong but have made it clear you don't want to do is an OK guy...and you're a jerk for not going along with it?

I don't know about you, but I'm a big fan of letting people make their own choices for themselves.

 

Neither Phil "Fang" Volk or Rick Nelson were particularly tolerant of each other.

Phil "Fang" Volk had gotten married, had two children, and had returned to his roots in organised religion(in Volk's case The Jehovah's Witnesses), and had sworn off drugs and groupie sex, and Nelson & his band were apparently less than accepting of Volk's disinterest in drugs & groupies, but Volk was equally intolerant of Nelson(and his band's) interest in astrology, which Volk viewed as "occult".

Part of the problem is that Volk had long idolized Nelson, and when he got to meet and work with his hero, Nelson did not meet Volk's expectations. There were long-term ties between the Nelson & Volk families. Volk's uncle was an actor on The Ozzie & Harriet Show, and Volk's mother(a massage therapist) was often employed by Harriet Nelson. Phil "Fang" Volk grew up knowing all of The Nelsons, except Rick, whom he never met until the early 1970's.

From the time when Volk was a teenager until this very day(in his 60's) Volk has never not been in a rock group, but his moral views had precluded a mainstream big time rock music career from the early 1970's onwards. He wasn't going to be able to work well(or at all) with those who indulged in the touring rock "Lifestyle".

But having said all that, you should check out his latest CD "Fang & The Gang-Fang Reveres The Raiders". It's a truly great Raiders tribute disc, and ends with a vintage unreleased 1965 Paul Revere & The Raiders track.

 

We can't know what the dynamic was like because we weren't there. And obviously, each party will tell his story in a way that puts him in the most favorable light.

The key in your statement is what form each party's "intolerance" takes. If Volk was constantly proselytizing on behalf of Jehovah's Witnesses to his fellow band members, or constantly bugging them to forswear astrology, I wouldn't be in support of that either.

If he simply declined to participate in the others' activities, I can't find fault with him. I find fault with any party who would try to force his lifestyle on others.

 

It seems apparent(by what Phil "Fang" Volk says on his website) that his decision not to work with Rick Nelson any more(hence sparing him from possibly still being employed by Nelson at the time of his plane crash death) is somehow a validation of the lifestyle choices that he(Volk) made versus those that Nelson made.

 

For anybody with some extra change laying around, go to Fang's home page. You can buy his Ed Sullivan show worn Raiders jacket for $25,000.

 

After he stopped playing with Rick Nelson he became one of the foremost collectors of Who memorabilia and you can find Fang's collection and commentary on the web.

 

No, you're wrong. White Fang(AKA Rich Weiner), the collector of WHO memorabilia has no connection whatsoever with Phil "Fang" Volk.

 

All I know is the Raiders were on the bill with the Beach Boys and Beau Brummels at the first gig I ever went to in 1964. They were good. i saw them again in 65. Saw Fang again with Mike Stax and the Loons at the Las Vegas Grind. He hadn't aged a day. Deal with the devil, or Dick Clark?

There was a time the Raiders were a big deal, not just a novelty act or goofy nostalgia. Sad to see some of the bands he's worked with since. I guess that is you option if you were the bass player in a former #1 American band...

 

The fact that he says Tom Brumley "turned against him" too suggests there was more to it than simply not joining in the partying, and that he probably was lecturing his bandmates or even saying judgmental things to them. As is apparent in the name, Jehovah Witnesses do feel their mission is to "witness," to explain their beliefs to others and actively seek to convert people.

I'd say Volk is a jerk for bringing up the discredited old rumor about freebasing causing Nelson's plane crash and suggesting it is true. And for implying that Nelson died in part because of his value system.

Interesting that he says his predecessor Randy Meisner was let go. I've read interviews with Meisner where he says he left voluntarily, and he's always had good things to say about Nelson.

It's funny to see him mention astrology in the same category as drugs and marital infidelity. Ooh, astrology. Scary...

 

"Suggests"..."probably"...it's possible, but we really don't have enough information to pass judgment.

Unless you believe Volk is lying through his teeth when he says his bandmates put continuing pressure on him to join in activities he made it clear he wanted no part of, then I think it's a wash. I don't find this to be less offensive than a religious convert putting pressure on others around him to follow him. I find them both equally offensive.

I suspect this tendency comes in various strengths depending on the individual.

I don't disagree with this at all, and it troubled me as well. I don't know the particulars, and how rigorous an investigation was done, and I'd be happy to be enlightened. But that was my impression as well, that the whole freebasing story had been discredited.

It's part of an overall belief system. I'm not sure what you want him to say. "Well, I'm against astrology too, but it's not as bad as drugs and marital infidelity," maybe?

To turn it around (all hypothetical, of course!)...if you believed we had a bad president, you would marshal as many criticisms of him as you possibly could in denouncing him, even though some of his faults surely have more severe consequences than others.

Personally, I would criticize astrology because it's stupid and utterly unproven, not for any religious reasons. But that's just me.

 

I thought Paul Revere & The Raiders were great in those core years 1964-1967. I also like the later stuff, but there'd been a lot of band member shuffles by then.

One interesting little tidbit I remember reading (an article on rock music written in 1967 or 1968) that asserted Paul Revere & The Raiders, along with Jefferson Airplane were ranked the loudest live bands playing in America in 1967 , thanks to improvements in electronics technology.

Dale

 

My buddy met Fang at the Las Vegas Grind and had a nice conversation with him. He said Phil couldn't possibly have been a nicer guy.

I wish Paul Revere & Mark Lindsay would set aside their BS and get the real Raiders together for a real show. Smitty passed away 8 or so years ago, so no complete reunion. Paul Revere's Raiders nostalgic mullet combo just don't cut it. I saw Lindsay perform in New York a little over 10 years ago... he was great!!!

 

I'm just saying it struck me funny. It's like saying "He's a mass murderer. And a child molester. And a vegetarian."

Regarding the plane crash, from what I've read the rumors of freebasing were based on little more than cocaine being found in Nelson's system and the fact that a fire occured. The NTSB concluded the fire aboard was likely caused by a faulty heater. The pilot (who survived the crash) reported there'd been problems with the heater before takeoff. It just strikes me as tasteless and offensive to bring up that rumor, especially in the context of implying that somehow Nelson's death was him reaping the fruits of his wayward lifestyle.

 

Right. It comes off as if Nelson had a different set of values he might still be alive.....very uncool to bring up the freebasing rumors.

I hate to be a morbid freak but have photos of the accident ever been released?

 

BUMP!

 

I know this is an awfully old thread, but I just read the Volk comments yesterday and was livid. He comes across as very bitter and judgmental. I was going to write about this on my Facebook page, but I coincidentally have one of Rick's family members as an FB friend and I'd hate if she happened to see it.

Someone further up the thread mentioned Tom Brumley. My understanding has always been that Brumley was never part of the rock and roll lifestyle and still loyally stayed by Rick through both incarnations of the Stone Canyon Band. He only left when Rick returned to primarily playing the oldies and no pedal steel was needed.

The story about freebasing was based on the finding of metabolized cocaine in band members' systems, fire, and the presence of aerosol cans on board. the cans were later found to be for guitar string lubrication and hair spray and the freebasing rumor was dismissed as incorrect by investigators.

And Randy Meisner did leave of his own accord.

Everything I've ever read about Rick shows him to be almost passive to the point of driving band members nuts in THAT direction. According to Joel Selvin, the first Stone Canyon Band left out of frustration that the record label was screwing them over and Rick wouldn't do anything. They went out on their own as Canyon. The idea that he would be some forceful jerk on the issue of partying and adultery seems farfetched as does the claim that Rick was jealous of the attention Fang got from religious groupies. It could well be that Fang, trying hard to be the new him, couldn't handle all that activity going on around him and started to see Rick as the devil trying to lead him astray. That Rick had been an All American role model on TV may have made that seem like betrayal, although Fang really shouldn't have been that naive. He seems to still have a lot of anger toward Rick forty years later.

It looks to me like both Fang and Rick were sick of each other, Fang made a conscious decision to be insubordinate about the on stage birthday celebration and was justifiably fired.

And now he want to speak ill of the dead to get the last word and show how "right" he was. Classy.