John Cowsill and The Dwight Twilley Story

Dwight's site appears to be gone or not currently working, so here's the text thanks to Jo.

When it became apparent that Blueprint might not be released by Arista, and when Twilley was unable to work for legal reasons for nearly a year, he gave both "Then We Go Up" and "I Love You so Much" to Phil Seymour for his debut solo album in 1981, although they were completely new tracks with Phil doing all the vocals (Pitcock was on both Phil's covers and Dwight's originals). Dwight remembers that he and Susan Cowsill might have sung or played on Phil's version, but that is uncertain. When Phil's first single "Precious To Me" hit the charts in early 1981, the label decided to pull the b-side "Baby It's You" and replace it on an immediate second pressing with another track. Phil asked Dwight for a song, and Dwight suggested he do "Suzi Glider," a very early Oister track. Dwight, Susan, and Bill all played on the record, and it came out, with Phil's name added as co-author by the label, although the song was written solely by Twilley. In England, curiously, it was credited to 'Phil Seymour/Doug Twilley,' which Twilley found very humorous when he eventually learned of it; Doug Wiley had been an old nickname.

Recording continued until the very last months of 1981 on the second Arista Dwight Twilley album. Various legal entanglements (a year of torture and lawyers with no live performances possible is how Dwight remembers it) prevented anything from being officially released, and by late fall, Blueprint now included a fine new song called "10,000 American Scuba Divers Dancin'," recorded by Twilley, Pitcock, Roger Linn, Susan & John Cowsill on Oct. 4, 1981. A new album line-up is known from tapes Twilley made for friends at the time, but it never truly existed as an 'album' except on cassette, featuring on Side One: "10,000 American Scuba Divers Dancin'," "Dion Baby" (a new song written for Dwight's daughter Dionne, born in 1980), "Firefly" (which came out ultimately on Great Lost), "I Found The Magic" (unedited), "Then We Go Up," "Cryin' Over Me," and Side Two: "Sky Blue" (with the final overdubs, as released on Great Lost), "Somebody To Love" (original version), "Love You So Much" (same as Great Lost version), "Like You Did It Before," "Living in the City" (version two, only the 2nd time Twilley ever recut a song originally sung by Phil Seymour; version three came from the Jungle demo sessions two years later), and "Leave Me Alone With My Baby." I would argue that this album just might have been the strongest of all the Twilley solo releases had it been issued. Certainly I think it's the best arrangement of all the songs from the '78-'81 Blueprint/Scuba Divers sessions. By the end of 1981, Twilley was finally out of the Arista contract which had prevented him from releasing any new albums for nearly three years, and free to sign a new deal.

Signing to EMI Records, Twilley compiled an updated version of the late '81 Scuba Divers, adding four completely new songs, and having only ten tracks, not twelve, and in July 1982 released Scuba Divers on EMI. The final released line-up included Side One: "I'm Back Again," "Somebody To Love," "10,000 Scuba Divers Dancin'," "Touchin' The Wind," "Later That Night," Side B: "I Think It's That Girl," "Dion Baby," "Cryin' Over Me," "I Found The Magic" (edited), and "Falling In Love Again." It's nothing short of miraculous that the album came out sounding as coherent as it did, considering that it had been recorded over even longer a time than Sincerely, in a host of studios, with a half dozen bands and producers. It is, nevertheless, one of the best loved of all Dwight's albums. The title track, "I'm Back Again," and "Touchin' The Wind" are certainly among Twilley's finest compositions; the latter track is the only one on which John Cowsill also sings. "Somebody To Love" was revisited, and in a rather remarkable job of reediting, actually had a verse and guitar parts added (not subtracted, as is usual with this kind of thing). Released again as a single by EMI, it again came very close to becoming a major hit.

Dwight Twilley became the star of one of the first ever live MTV concerts (at a time when MTV played music videos all day, and had hardly ever had either live music, specials, sitcoms, or whatever) in a terrific 70-minute live concert that featured Pitcock, John Cowsill, and Susan Cowsill, along with a couple of new band members. The show featured "Betsy Sue," "Cryin' Over Me," "I'm On Fire," "Runaway," "Scuba Divers," "Could Be Love," "Mr. Rabbit," "Somebody To Love," "TV," "You Never Listen To My Music," "I Think It's That Girl," "Flippin' (On The Mention Of Love)," "Standing In The Shadow of Love," "I'm Back Again," "Hard Headed Woman," "Money," and "C.C. Rider." The show was recorded live at Rockabilly's North in Houston, and aired on July 23, 1982. It is hoped that one day there can be either/both a live album and DVD release of this show. Incidentally, if you saw it at the time and wondered why there was only a small audience, the venue for the taping was changed because they found a pole directly in front of the stage at the scheduled venue. So at the last possible minute, it was changed to Rockabilly's North. There was no advertising aside from Twilley's name on the marquee, it was a Sunday show, and frankly, no fans knew it was being taped, so the audience was just kind of the regulars at the club and some folks who were 'hired' to be the audience. Also of note is that The King Biscuit Flower Hour broadcast seven songs from this show on the radio later that year.

Throughout the late spring and summer of 1982, Dwight Twilley toured with that same band, surely one of the three best with whom he's ever performed (the other two being the '77 Dwight Twilley Band and, I'm happy to report, his current live band). MTV used a clip from the live Rockabilly's concert as a video, and it was in heavy rotation for over six months, raising his public profile and ensuring packed, enthusiastic concerts. For the first time in seven years, the future looked bright indeed, and this time, the commercial success would last for several years.

In 1983, off the road for a few months, Dwight Twilley worked in a funky little broken down studio in La Crescenta where seemingly nothing worked on a particular day, prompting him to nickname it 'Studio No.' Tracks demoed during this time included several versions of "Girls" (not the familiar one with Tom Petty guesting), "Black Eyes," "Lullabye," "Living In The City" (an even more raucous version than either of the earlier ones), "Let Me Down," "Don't You Love Her," and more. Half a dozen of these tracks appear on the 1999 Not Lame Records compilation Between The Cracks, Vol. I. "To Get To You" and "Forget About It Baby" were recorded in 1983 at Roger Linn's studio (both also on BTC, Vol. 1). New songs seemed to spring forth effortlessly, and the period was remarkably productive. In fact, it was the first time Twilley had ever really done an extensive amount of pre-production work on an album, since both Twilley and EMI hoped the next album would be the one that would put him over the top. The effort paid off in spades, too, at least initially. Sessions for the actual album ran off and on from mid-summer to November, 1983.

In early 1984, the album Jungle was released. It included: Side One: "A Little Bit Of Love," "Girls," "Why You Wanna Break My Heart," "You Can Change It," "Cry Baby," Side Two: "Don't You Love Her," "Long Lonely Nights," "Jungle," "To Get To You," and "Max Dog." With "Girls," Noah Shark, who'd been co-producing most of Tom Petty's albums since the Shelter days, when Petty and Seymour were best friends, had the idea to ask Tom to do guest vocals on a song. Although a version of "Girls" without Petty had already been completed, Dwight felt that Tom's voice would work really well on that song. With an indelible Pitcock/Twilley riff, a subject everyone could identify with, and Petty's distinctive twang on the counterpart, "Girls" became one of the most heavily played song of 1984. The single's success was aided immeasurably by a promotional video, modeled loosely on the film Porky's with Twilley playing coach to a bunch of jocks, and scenes of showering cheerleaders; in fact, a rarely seen 'R-rated' version was made for the Playboy channel and adult outlets with substantial nudity included, not Dwight's of course. Since many had noted Carla Olson's resemblance to Tom Petty, Twilley had her do a cameo in the video, miming Petty's vocal parts. MTV was at the peak of its power as a chart and hit-making force, and "Girls" became one of their most-played tracks, seemingly unavoidable over the summer and fall of 1984. Ultimately, the song would also appear in several movies over the next decade (like Worth Winning '89 and Ladybugs '92). Mention should also be made of an excellent outtake, a second track recording the day "Girls" was cut, also with Petty on backing vocals - another version of "Forget About It Baby," which also sounds like a hit. This version of the song is on the 2001 CD edition of The Luck (see below).

It should be noted that while Jungle is far and away Dwight's most commercially successful album, i.e., the one most fans bought, it's also unquestionably the one album that most nearly sounds like when it was recorded - in the synthesizer crazy mid-'80s. Most of Twilley's work sounds timeless, but only a few of Jungle's tracks escaped those synths.

As the summer of 1984 wound on, Dwight Twilley toured incessantly, and appeared on national TV nearly every week throughout July and August, on programs like Solid Gold, Dance Fever, Merv Griffin, Rock Palace, and two different returns to American Bandstand ('84 & '85). Twilley found that he'd moved from being a critics' favorite, to being asked to present awards on prestigious national live TV broadcasts, like the time he presented the Best Black Video Award to Lionel Ritchie at the American Music Awards. The King Biscuit Flower Hour aired a second six song Twilley solo set in 1984. He also appeared live at the Summer Olympic Games in L.A. in 1984.

"A Little Bit Of Love" was released as a follow-up single, complete with picture sleeve and another promotional video, but EMI failed to get any real airplay on the track. In addition, Twilley's main man at EMI, Gary Gersh, had left the label. A third single was released in 1985 with a promotional video featuring characters from the film in which it was featured, Body Rock. That song "Why You Wanna Break My Heart" was an obvious hit single, as was "Don't You Love Her," but the public never knew it. Heavy touring continued into 1985, but few recording sessions were assayed due to the high number of in concert appearances, radio shows, record signing, and interviews on his schedule. He also did a duet with Kim Carnes ("Bette Davis Eyes") on a version of "A Little Bit Of Love" that remains in the can to date; actually, Twilley had written "A Little Bit Of Love" specifically for Carnes to record, but Susan Cowsill's lead vocal on the demo he gave Carnes apparently was so good that she didn't try to better it.

Two songs were cut for film soundtracks, both where Twilley was contracted to just add lead vocals to tracks written and recorded for the films. The first was "Prove It To You" from Just One of the Guys (soundtrack on Elektra, 1985). The second was "Keep On Working" from the disco era Heavenly Bodies (1985). The second song marked both the peak and the beginning of the end. A hot record promotions man approached Twilley, and made very pointed remarks about the failure of EMI to achieve a follow-up hit to the massive success of "Girls," a point of which he was only too well aware. The promo man further went on to point out his other successes, and promised that if Twilley signed with him, he would make him a massive star. He then took on promotion of "Keep On Working" and to prove that he could deliver, took the song immediately to the '#1 Most Added Song in AOR' position for that week. Then promptly stopped working it, after which the song plummeted from the charts (no loss, that, really). Convinced that the man could make his career take off, Twilley signed an exclusive deal with him and his label Private Records, and was bought out of his EMI contract.

Recording commenced on the follow-up to Jungle, and Twilley found himself saddled with outside producers he neither wanted nor needed. Pitcock was sometimes 'replaced' by the standard L.A. session guys. Then one day Dwight Twilley woke up to discover that 'his man' in the record biz had just made network news and front page headlines as part of the record business payola/mafia scam, later detailed in the best-selling book Hit Men. Of all artists signed to this label, Twilley's album was the farthest along on the road to release - only two weeks from being released. Instead of being dropped, he found himself shunted off to a different label that neither wanted him nor planned to promote him. The resulting album, Wild Dogs, was released in 1986 on the CBS Associated label, if you can call it 'released'; Dwight says it more nearly 'escaped.' With no promotion, the album more or less appeared in the 'T' section in record stores. Many fans never even knew it was out. The album contained: Side One: "Sexual," "Wild Dogs," "You Don't Care," "Hold On," "Shooting Stars," Side Two: "Baby Girl," "Ticket To My Dream," "Secret Place," "Radio," "Spider And The Fly." The debut single "Sexual" barely escaped at all (white label promos can occasionally be found, but the stock copy single with a picture sleeve is rarer than hen's teeth). Still, the album contained several fine songs, albeit marred by heavy-handed production and a somewhat unsympathetic bunch of session aces. Foremost in the list is the wonderful "You Don't Care," which I feel would've been a big hit with radio promotion, "Baby Girl" which remains a staple of his live sets, and which was re-recorded in a far superior (no synths!) version for Tulsa in 1999, and most of all, "Shooting Stars," which features the last recorded (released, anyway) duet vocals by Dwight Twilley and Phil Seymour. In fact, Dwight wrote the song about his best friend after he learned Phil had contracted lymphoma, a disease that is usually terminal, and then asked him to sing on it, although he never told Phil the song was written about him. It remains a very emotional and heartfelt song.

While Dwight Twilley did a number of shows from 1986 into 1987 to promote the record, with no radio play and no promotional help to speak of from the label, the band was forced to move back into small clubs for the most part. While the band was still hot, and the set selection very tasty, few noticed. Worst of all, much to his horror, Twilley found himself effectively blackballed from the music business from the payola/mafia scandal. Never mind that by his own admission, he's probably far less business savvy or even involved in the business end of his music than most artists. Stories abound of management/label horrors throughout his career, like the time that he saw the beautiful gold-plated guitar that he'd owned around '76-'77 (mentioned in "England" and pictured in Crawdaddy and other mags at the time) sitting on a pawn shop wall, stripped of the gold plating. For most fans, then, the period from 1987 until 1995 found Twilley seemingly missing in action. And for the first time since 1974, he was without a label, and after the payola/mafia scandal, no one seemed to want him. He did perform a high profile show in 1991 for the USO for Desert Storm warriors, aboard the USS Ranger.

The truth was that he was far from idle, and indeed, had more albums released on CD in the '90s than on vinyl in the '70s and '80s combined! DCC reissued Sincerely in 1989 and Twilley Don't Mind in 1990 with bonus tracks on each. A little rack jobbers' label issued a collection called Rock Yourself, which was not really authorized, but which did include the Blueprint recording of "Shark (In The Dark)." In 1992, Twilley was asked to give permission for one of his songs to be used in a movie based on a sketch from Saturday Night Live; Twilley said "I figured that meant it would be yet another awful movie that no one would go see" (referring to the string of flop spinoffs from TV sketches originally made for that show), but it turned out to be the movie Wayne's World, and the ensuing soundtrack LP became an enormous best-seller (I think it would be accurate to say the soundtrack paid for Twilley's house upon his return to Tulsa in 1995).

In 1993, many of the best unreleased Dwight Twilley Band numbers along with five of the Blueprint tracks were made available on The Great Lost Twilley Album on DCC Compact Classics, providing longtime fans their first significant glimpse into the massive Twilley archives; all the tracks are noted above, and it's very nearly the B Album at last. The following tracks appear, in chronological order (not as they appear on the disc): all three tracks from their 11-27-74 first Shelter session "I'm On Fire" (the original 12" 45 mix), "Did You See What Happened," & "Lovin' Me"; two from Feb. '75 "Please Say Please" & "I Can't Get No"; four from the Trident/Robin Cable sessions in England: "Rock Yourself, Son," "No Resistance," "I Don't Know My Name," & "Dancer"; the unreleased single version of "Shark"; the Bob Schaper version of (incorrectly labeled as the 40-track/Leon Russell version) "Shakin'" (the preceding nine tracks all from the official B Album); eight tracks from the 4/76 ShelterVision sessions: "Chance To Get Away," "Living In The City," "Didn't You Say," "Skywriter," "Rock'n'Roll 47," "Two Of Us," "Twenty-nine Times," and "You Never Listen To My Music"; and five tracks from various Twilley solo Blueprint line-ups: "I Love You So Much" (2nd version), "Then We Go Up," "Burnin' Sand" (a longer version than the 45 b-side released on vinyl), "Somebody To Love" (original single version), "Sky Blue" (the 'completed' version begun in 1978, finished in '81), and "Firefly."

Both Dwight Twilley Band albums were reissued again in 1995 with new bonus tracks by The Right Stuff (a Capitol subsidiary which had inherited the Shelter material). In 1996, The Right Stuff (finding themselves now owners of most of Twilley's different labels) issued a career-spanning retrospective called XXI, which covered material from 1975-1996, along with two brand new songs from '94 and '95, which explains the title - 21 songs over 21 years. The album contains: "I'm On Fire," "Sincerely," "TV," "Shark," "Looking For The Magic," "That I Remember," "Out Of My Hands," "Darlin'", "Somebody To Love," "Sky Blue" (same as Great Lost version), "10,000 Scuba Divers Dancin'," "Touchin' The Wind," "Dion Baby," "Little Bit Of Love," "Girls," "Why You Wanna Break My Heart," "Don't You Love Her," "Wild Dogs," "Shooting Stars," "Grey Buildings" (taken from The Luck, and recorded at the same session that produced "Perfect World"), and "That Thing You Do" (a brand new song written just after the move back to Tulsa for the film of the same name, although it was submitted too late for consideration). That totals eight albums released during a time when Twilley was supposedly 'missing'!

Dwight Twilley's daughter Dionne had been born to his first wife Linda in 1980, by which time Twilley had lived in L.A. for several years. The marriage ended shortly after, and Linda and Dionne moved to Arkansas. What this meant was that Dwight was largely a long distance father, and being a very creative type of individual (he's an artist who's had his work paintings displayed in galleries, and practices calligraphy), he had devised a rather unique and creative way of trying to communicate with his daughter, to become part of her life. For several years between the end of touring in 1987 into the early '90s, he spent most of his time working on a book about distance parenting techniques. He made use of the time by working on demos, and by writing a best-selling children's/parenting book Questions From Dad was published by Charles H. Tuttle Company in 1994, and soon became a best seller. For almost a year, Twilley was heavily tied up in promoting the book, and in doing some art exhibitions after interest sparked by the book's illustrations. The book also received an important award from the Children's Rights Council, which Twilley accepted proudly in Washington.

Picking some of the best of his recent material from the early '90s, Twilley recorded and shopped an album to be called The Luck that was completed in January 1994, although it was never released at the time; much of the album was produced by Richie Podolor, who produced many, many hits starting in the late '60s at his own American Recorders studio (including those by Twilley's ex-partner Phil Seymour). The album was to have contained: Side One: "Grey Buildings" (a song included on XXI), "Perfect World" (a song released in several limited places, but included on Between The Cracks, Vol. 1), "The Luck" (rerecorded for Tulsa in 1999), "Reach For the Sky" (released on BTC, Vol. 1), "You," Side Two: "Holdin' On,""Worry 'Bout You," "Oh Carrie" (released on BTC, Vol. 1), "I Wanna Have You" (this track would be featured in '96 in the film Lovers Knot), and the epic "Gave It All Up For Rock'n'Roll" (which features an all-star chorus with Vicki & Debbi Peterson of the Bangles, Susan Cowsill, and Rocky and Billy Burnette). See below for details of a long-overdue release of The Luck in 2001.

Other miscellaneous tracks from the '90s include a pair of Christmas songs cut in 1992, "Christmas Night" (released in 2000 as b-side to a French Pop The Balloon single of "A Little Less Love") and "Christmas Love," issued on BTC, Vol. 1. "Where The Birds Fly"(another track featured on Between the Cracks, Vol. 1) is a song that might be from 1989, but Dwight can't remember recording it. "Remedies" was contributed to Jordan Oakes' first CD sampler, Yellow Pills Vol. 1 (Big Deal Records, 1993), the sampler named after Twilley's Tulsa friends Steve Allen and Ron Flynt's song from 20/20's first album (which featured Seymour on drums). Dwight also appears on Dramarama's 1993 Hi Fi Sci Fi album singing backing vocals on several tracks (some of the Heartbreakers also appear), and on their 1996 best of collection. He also co-authored and recorded a song with Bill Lloyd called "Baby We're Back In Love."

After relocating to Tulsa in 1995 in the wake of the big Northridge earthquake in California's San Fernando Valley, Dwight found that the return to his hometown after 20 years had caused a big return to form, and began recording again in earnest. Almost immediately after returning, he heard about the upcoming Tom Hanks film about a rock band (which became That Thing You Do), and on learning they were looking for a title song, went into Rainbow Trout Studio in Tulsa in October and cut a song he wrote as a candidate for the title song. It was included as a bonus track on XXI, although it arrived too late for consideration for the film. Married again, now to Jan Allison, the Twilleys began constructing a home studio, which was completed in 1999 and christened 'The Big Oak Studio'; their house is called 'The Big Oak Ranch,' because, well, there's a massive oak tree on the property. One of the first songs done after the move was a hot version of "I Can't Take It," the Badfinger song from No Dice, for a tribute to Badfinger called Come and Get It on Copper Records. Songs like "Miracle," "Never Enough," and "Runnin'" were cut as demos. "Never Enough" was coupled withe the Luck track "Perfect World" as a French single on Pop The Balloon (it had previously appeared on a CD sampler with an issue of the magazine I edit, Pop Culture Press, and on XXI). In 1999, he and Ron Flynt of 20/20 cut duet live vocals on a song called "I See Blue" at Long Branch Studio in Tulsa for Ron Flynt's solo debut Ron Flynt and the Bluehearts: Big Blue Heart, released in March 2000 on Ya Ya Records; the track also features Bill Lloyd on lead guitar.

By 1995, Twilley returned to live performances, headlining some large shows in Tulsa, and playing a red-hot set at SXSW in Austin. With a new band, and the return to the fold (at least in the studio) in 1998 of the long absent Bill Pitcock IV (who'd left after 1986), Twilley recorded and released Tulsa (Copper Records, reissued by Castle's When! label in England), his first album of new material in13 years in the summer of 1999. The album is remarkable in that not only is it one of the finest Twilley's recorded in his career, but it also is the first self-produced album he's made since 1977, and features most of the same musicians (excepting only the late Phil Seymour) who were part of the touring versions of The Dwight Twilley Band. Side One has: "Runnin'," "A Little Less Love," "It's Hard To Be A Rebel (No World)" (which had appeared in an earlier demo version on the British Bucketfull of Brains' first ever CD compilation), "The Luck" (a new, improved 1999 recording), "Baby's Got The Blues Again" (a 1999 recording of a Teac Tape song from '73-74, featuring many of the same musicians who were in the DTB), "Way of the World," "Tulsa," "Miranda" (a song written for Susan Cowsill and Peter Holsapple's daughter Miranda - Dwight said that Dionne had her song, so Miranda should too), "Miracle," "Beauty Dirt," "Goodbye," and a new improved version of 1986's "Baby Girl." And so we've come full circle, Tulsa to Hollywood, and back again, with a new album that against all odds, equals any he's made.

Also in 1999, Bruce Brodeen of Not Lame Records convinced Twilley to take another dip into his own personal archives, and Between The Cracks, Vol. 1 was issued. The album was reissued in 2000 by Castle/When! Records in England. It contains three Dwight Twilley Band era songs (not featuring Seymour): "Round And Around," "Eli Bolack," and "Too Young For Love"; the following '83 Studio No tracks: "Black Eyes," "Let Me Down," "Lullaby," "Don't You Love Her," and "Living In The City" and two more Jungle demos from Roger Linn's house in '83: "To Get To You" and "Forget About It Baby"; some miscellaneous early '90s tracks: "Reach For The Sky," "Oh Carrie," "Christmas Love," "Where The Birds Fly," and "No Place Like Home," several of them destined for the unreleased LP The Luck; and "Perfect World" which was recorded especially for The Luck.

As of mid-2001, there's a brand-new version of The Luck about to be released. Twilley and Allison have formed their own label, the Big Oak Recording Group (B.O.R.G.) to release his future projects. Instead of releasing the original 1994 album, Twilley chose to look over the last ten years of his L.A. era and cherry pick the best tracks. Mostly recorded at American Recordings and produced by Richie Podolor (who produced Phil Seymour's solo work), the album is a remarkbly coherent artistic statement that includes several of Twilley's career-best recordings. The disc features: "You Never Listen To My Music," (a previously unheard solo version), "Holding On," "I Wanna Have You" (both from the original LP), "Forget About It Baby" (the fantastic version with Petty), "You" (the first version), "No Place Like Home," "Oh Carrie," "I Worry About You," "The Luck" (original version), "All Of The Time," "Reach For The Sky," "I Wanna Live," "Suzyanne," "Remedies" (as found on the Yellow Pills compilation), "Leave Me Alone With My Baby" (the 'new' version, circa '95), and the epochal anthem "Gave It All Up For Rock'n'Roll."

As we go into the future in the new millennium, the future looks bright indeed for Mr. Dwight Twilley. A live Dwight Twilley Band album is planned and ready to be mastered as soon as a legal hurdle is cleared, and there's been talk about releasing live Twilley solo shows, and some archival Oister demos after that. Not to mention the future possibility of reissuing Twilley, Scuba Divers, Blueprint, Jungle, and Wild Dogs, all with copious bonus tracks. And unlike, say, the latter-day career of Elvis Presley, Dwight Twilley continues to make vital and beautiful music no matter what obstacles are placed in his path. The Kid can rock, make no mistake about it.

Kent Benjamin is a Memphis native whose family now lives in Tupelo, Mississippi. He has been a diehard Dwight Twilley fan literally since the day he heard "I'm On Fire" on the radio in June, 1975, and immediately drove to a store to attempt (unsuccessfully) to buy it. For over 20 years, he's lived in Austin, Texas, where he works as a music writer, co-founder of the Austin Music Network, regular contributor to Goldmine, Bucketfull of Brains, and the Austin Chronicle, as well as editor of Pop Culture Press. He first interviewed Dwight Twilley in 1982, is six months younger than Bill Pitcock IV, never got to see the Dwight Twilley Band live, and badly wants a copy of the 1975 American Bandstand appearance. And clearly has too much time on his hands this week....