Uncle Fred I notice it says your at the Oregon coast. I was there a few years ago on a PBS film shoot. It's one of the most beautiful places I've seen. We were in a bay or lagoon at the ocean shooting dialogue scenes on water. See picture: (5) Facebook
I think we talked about this on another thread but I can't find it so quickly now. They sing "Billy G" and ZZ Top sing "Stevie P" (Steve Perron). Clearly there was a friendship of sorts.
Why do that to friends? Who knows. And if they were all friends (they were) then that didn't make Kenny Cordray or Steve Perron's widow feel any better later. Steve Perron died as Francine was released and left a widow and a baby boy (Miles). I interviewed Linda Perron in the 80s and she will tell you she needed the money, but as of that time (10 years after the hit) she never got anything. Ive still got the recording of that interview. RIP Kenny and Steve. (At age 19 I was the Children's new recording engineer at Andrus Studios, they were signed to Hollywood producer Lou Adler.) As for another fellow that I knew (an original ZZ member) Lanier Greig, who wrote Waitin For The Bus (yes, I once interviewed him and recorded it) was a struggling musician and he was upset all his years for getting nothing (his wife verified that too by email). RIP Lanier.
I think it's okay to meet your heroes. Just don't expect a lot out of them and, whatever you do, for God's sake don't go into business with them.
Someone else wrote Waitin' For the Bus? Not Gibbons/Hill/Beard/Ham? WTF? How many other songs did they cover and claim? Seems strange that they got away with it often.
Arrested For Driving While Blind -- Original idea and song seed: Kurt Linhoff Gibbons did give Kurt $500 for it (or thereabouts). I verified it with a recorded phone interview with Kurt himself.
If anyone knows Elwood Francis, or has worked with him, I'd like to hear comments. He was the guitar tech and a musician (and jumped in on bass to keep the tour going). He has stories now Im sure. It's been a crazy time in his life. Good luck to you Elwood, make em treat you well.
Here's the photo I took of Sammy Hagar when I worked with him, Go here: Facebook Speaking of band turmoil there was plenty of that between Sammy Hagar and Van Halen, at least that's what "Breaking the Band" documentary series reported in one of their episodes (it's a documentary series from UK)
Kenny Cordray and Steve Perron are credited as co-composers of Francene, so I always thought they got paid (no pun). Sad if that wasn't the case.
Credit was added later (decades later) because Kenny hounded Ham for credit and money. Eventually Kenny said he got some of the money. This all took a long time.
Sometimes people see credits for a song in Wikepedia and assume they were on the actual record, not often true. Ive seen a few lyric sites give me credit for Thug, but actual ZZ releases have never given me credit for anything.
Fascinating insight on one of the first three albums I ever owned. Thanks for being part of this forum, Linden.
Several years ago a well known journalist (off the record) sent me this email (its on file): "A high end music industry friend of mine in Cali, Tom Vickers, was palling around with Billy and was convinced that he had collaborated on a few compositions for a late 90s ZZ Top album, but when it was released, no sign of Tom Vickers credit. I know, tell it to Kenny Cordray, or to you Linden, or Billy Etheridge, or the Nightcaps (re: "Thunderbird") but there is a pattern I detect." (end quote)
A few years ago, John Moran, a Houston recording engineer who has worked with Gibbons, wrote briefly on a blog: he said he asked Billy Gibbons about the Linden Hudson problem: Billy’s answer “it was a management decision”.
I like to annoy my 'serious muso' friends by telling them the only good ZZ Top songs are the ones with a drum machine and sequencer on them. Funny thing is, they think I'm joking! Maybe I like Linden rather than the Top! Good to read your posts, thank you.