the Rockville Rocket

Driving through Rockville today on my way to a meeting...was thinking of Gene Pitney (the Rockville Rocket). I see Kefera has done a nice cover of "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"

YouTube - THE MAN WHO SHOT, LIBERTY VALANCE; GENE...

YouTube - Gene Pitney - She's a Rebel

YouTube - Gene Pitney - Only Love Can Break A...

YouTube - TOWN WITHOUT PITY

[Jesse Joe]

Great songs, especially the first one by Kefera, (David Albion) Thanks for sharing those Pam,

[johnfowles]

amazing Pam I remember you saying that you hailed from Rockville/Vernon and I meant to talk about the town with you because as I think I may have told you my grandmother's elder brother John Williams was a stone mason and Masonic Lodge member there for many years.
Meanwhile another of his sisters my Aunt Frin (Francis) named her house in Yeovil, Somerset UK (near where I was born) "Rockville" in his honour and long after she died the house kept that name and may still do so
My Uncle eventually returned to the UK in the early 70's and when I was in the CT area visiting old friends in 1988 I drove to a Rockville Rotary Club meeting.
Regarding Gene Pitney,I vaguely recall seeing him as one of a group of artists in a concert at the Odeon Theatre in Derby (that's "Darr"-bee as in dar-ling not "Der" by as in der-matologist BTW)
I do remember that it was a sold out concert but having recently been an unpaid student usher at the same chain's Hammersmith Odeon in London I bluffed my way in to the free standing area

oh yeah John...that's right I remember that but couldn't recall which relative of yours had lived there. Neat. That's very interesting about the name of the house, "Rockville" and a nice ancedote I shall pass along to the gals (and guy) at the historical society there. No sah, we have more than one guy but most times it's just us gals.

I only kinda sorta hail from Rockville having lived there off and on for...several years between 1988 abd 2001. Even still, I stayed a member and still have volunteered for the historical society museum there. Every booksale and XMas craft fair since 1995, I've lent a hand. If I get back home here @Thanksgiving....I'll still try to help out for the craft fair somehow. A great group of folks and I enjoy being around them. I'm going to miss our Thursday lunches I sometimes had been able to join in on.

You know, I'm so used to referring to Pitney as the "Rockville Rocket"..it seemed to me he would be know as such outside of Connecticut, but now I'm guessing not. We all call him that and rarely use his actual name.

Just by coincidence today in the Hartford Courant was a write-up about a new band out of Rockville and the Courant cleverly called them the "Rockville Rockets"...I forget the name of the band now and can't find the article. Glad I caught that because it was on the same page as the write-up for the "deep" folk band and one of my new local favorites out of Boston (I 1st heard at the Irish Festival)..."Crooked Still".

Pitney's music is great and I remember all his songs especially from when I was growing up and it was always nice to have a choice and change from what was predominating the airwaves then and always in our heads (The Beatles). I do consider Pitney to be among the great songwriter's of our times and I don't feel he got the credit he deserved. He should certainly be in the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.

Lucky you to have had a chance to attend one of his performances. He had a tour in the US and a lot of here in Connecticut before he went on tour in the UK/Wales..where he died. I had intended to catch his concert when he was to come back around this way - had been pleased to see his music re-gaining popularity when he picked up on touring so heavily and we were all just so shocked to learn of his sudden death.

[jj]

' ...don't go back to Rockville, and waste another year '

one of my fave REM jam tunes

YouTube - REM's Mike Mills Interview + Rockville...

great find jj! kewl ok ok I won't go back Nice little interview w/Regis and Kathy Lee...guess this is the longest I ever watched that show lol see what you've gone and done made me do??? REM was great...nice to see this!

oh...this is probably why I had been thinking of Gene Pitney last week: http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc...,5592665.story

wish I could have gone to that

also: www.courant.com/webhostjim

[Nightingale]

Gene Pitney was so good! I loved his music when I was growing up. I thought Town Without Pity was the most intriguing song when I was young.

Yes, David does a great version of Liberty Valance. Great old song and I love hearing it again.

Nice Mike Mills interview, jj. I like the song, too.
Hey, I just got back from Rockville but it was the one in Indiana. They are having their Covered Bridge Festival...lots of fun.

Thanks for the memories, Pam.

[jj]

yeah guys, would have been neat if Stipe was there singing rich lead vox with Mills on backups... I suppose he wrote the tune perhaps ...sounded dry, looked nervous ...umm, great haircut

Originally Posted by jj

yeah guys, would have been neat if Stipe was there singing rich lead vox with Mills on backups... I suppose he wrote the tune perhaps ...sounded dry, looked nervous ...umm, great haircut

lol yeah the "Bill Gates" look!

Originally Posted by Nightingale

Gene Pitney was so good! I loved his music when I was growing up. I thought Town Without Pity was the most intriguing song when I was young.

Yes, David does a great version of Liberty Valance. Great old song and I love hearing it again.

Nice Mike Mills interview, jj. I like the song, too.
Hey, I just got back from Rockville but it was the one in Indiana. They are having their Covered Bridge Festival...lots of fun.

Thanks for the memories, Pam.

Me too Nightingale...it's haunting and I do believe the "town" is Rockville. Liberty Valance...I thought Pitney wrote but on www.genepitney.org I see it's a Burt Bacharach song...interesting!

Gene lived in Somers, CT...right over the border from where I worked 3 seasons in a museum and I always hoped he would stop in sometime!

Also on youtube...many videos of him singing in Italian and Spanish and oh I just love listening to these. And I think Gene had the most sexy, gorgeous lips/mouth wow lol.