Recently, singer, songwriter, musician, author and Grammy Award winner Billy Vera sat down with me to talk about his new book Rip It Up: The Specialty Records Story. Vera tells us how the book came about.

“BMG contacted me. They initiated a series of books with each one being about a different independent record label, either an old one or a new one. They knew I worked for Specialty years ago and that I knew the founder Art Rupe, so they figured I was the guy to do the Specialty (book). They gave me the outline and they said we want roughly 50,000 words. Each book is in a seven by seven format, which is the size of an old 45 rpm record.

I have known Art for thirty years. I had Xerox copies of correspondence between artists and Art, recording session sheets and union contracts from my days at Specialty. I produced over fifty CDs of Specialty music. I was also very familiar with the history of the label and of Art’s history. Whenever I had a question I just called him up. I wrote the book in about three weeks.

Art is 102 years old and he is sharper than you and I put together. He still goes to work every day. In fact, later in the day after he finished with us (doing a video with him), he had a board meeting. He runs a charitable foundation that gives away tons and tons of money to various things that he is interested in. He is an incredible man. He is an amazing man,” he says.

Art Rupe penned the foreword to the book.

Billy Vera’s association with the kind Read More

Riveting Riffs Magazine does not write a lot of reviews these days, although those were our roots as an entertainment, fashion and visual arts publication. We now focus on interviews. Having said all of that when 45 revoluciones, which first was broadcast on Antena 3 (television) in Spain in the spring of 2019 appeared on Netflix recently, what began as a curiosity turned into a love affair between this writer and yet another fabulous production from Spain.

45 revoluciones is set in the early 1960s in Madrid, Spain at a time when Rock and Roll music gave a voice to young people in many countries in the world, but also at a time in Spain when it was ruled by a brutal and repressive dictator General Francisco Franco. Franco would not die until 1975 and during his dictatorship people of a gay sexual orientation were arrested, beaten and persecuted if caught, literature was heavily censored and often rewritten, radio and television stations broadcast what they were told to broadcast and music was censored.

Now that you understand the setting of 45 revoluciones let us talk about the outstanding thirteen episode series that we hope will be renewed for another season and if you watched the series in its entirety, yes the writers and producers did leave a window open for that to occur with the way the story was written. If it is not renewed by Antena 3 then perhaps Netflix will pick up the rights. It has done well with other Spanish productions such as Alta Mar (High Seas) and Las Chicas Del Cable (Cable Girls).

There are so many good acting performances in 45 revoluciones by the stars of the show and by the entire supporting cast that it will not be possible to mention everyone. Never in recent  Read More

We do not often think of the word Evergreen, as summer is winding down, but Christmas came early this year with a delicious album from Beth Bombara that bears that title. The dual first tracks, which for the music video merge into one another, “I Only Cry When I’m Alone,” and “Upside Down,” are well worth investing in the album, so the listener can discover some other treasures.

Beth Bombara talks about those first two songs, “Social media has changed how we interact socially and what I was really thinking about is how it has enabled us to hide behind this curtain, minus emotion. If you don’t want somebody to know that you’re sad you don’t have to post a picture of you looking sad on the internet. Nobody has to know that you are sad or upset. It is this idea of not letting people behind your emotional curtain. That is what I was thinking about when I started writing,” the she adds that you can also convey your true emotions, “I have cried in front of other people before. It is capturing the idea that it is a lot easier now than ever to let people see when you are feeling sad.”

Although, the song does not focus specifically on the period of her life when Beth Bombara was dealing with depression, she says, “I was not thinking about that, but generally speaking yes. Part of my battle with depression during that time period was the aspect of feeling stuck and not feeling like I had any power to do anything. There is an aspect of “Upside Down,” that alludes to that. It is the feeling of being stuck and not having the power to do anything and then just flipping your whole perspective upside down. If you think you are at a place Read More