Studio memories

link Staff photo: Brittney Cannon

George Tomsco, former lead guitarist for Jimmy Gilmer and The Fireballs, performs a song for tourists at Norman Petty's Seventh Street studio on Saturday during the Clovis Music Festival. Tomsco said he met Buddy Holly after coming back to the studio from a food break at Foxy's Drive-In. Holly had picked up Tomsco's Fender Stratocaster, propped his foot on Tomsco's amplifier and began playing his guitar. That was the first and last time Tomsco had spoken to Holly before his death in 1959.

Chevrolets, old band members and a few Fireballs came to Clovis for one reason this weekend: To rock out and celebrate the Clovis Sound that Norman Petty perfected almost 60 years ago at his world-famous Seventh Street studio.

Clovis’s weekend tourists could start the day off early with a tour of the original studio on Seventh Street and listen to old tracks from The Fireballs, The Roses and even the man himself, Buddy Holly.

“They’re always excited (to see the studio),” David Bigham, a backup singer for Buddy Holly and a former Roses member, said Saturday morning in the living room at Petty’s studio. “This is one of the very few places that you’ll ever go to that is still almost intact as it was 50 years ago.”

Bigham, who recorded several songs with Buddy Holly and Norman Petty, said he doesn’t get as many flashbacks as he used to when he visits the studio thanks to old age, but he still gets that feeling that he just cut a record when he walks out the door.

“My flashbacks are waning, you know,” Bigham said, laughing. “But it seems like yesterday that we walked out of here finishing a session. I still get that feeling.”

Bigham said that Buddy was “just a person,” like anyone else, and let absolutely nothing go to his head.

“He was a driven person. He knew where he wanted to go and how he wanted to get there,” Bigham said. “But it was nice, and of course The Roses were the only group to travel with Buddy on tour, so that was quite thrilling for us, too.”

Bigham said The Roses recorded with Buddy Knox and Roy Orbison, too.

“We were just having fun. We wanted to hear what we’d sound like on the radio,” Bigham said. “It was fun for us, and we made a little money along the way.”

For Jerry Roberts, the Clovis Music Festival and studio tour is something he wouldn’t miss, broken hip or not.

“I come in every year,” Roberts said. “I love it — I wouldn’t miss it. I broke my hip in December, and I told Ken (Broad) I might not be back this year, but I’m so determined to get well that I got well enough to come back.”

Roberts also recorded at the Norman Petty studio in the 50s, and had The Fireballs for backup singers — which, of course, was Petty’s idea.

“I brought my own band, and Norman said I could stay but the band had to go,” Roberts said. “So we got back to Odessa (Texas), and I brought my lead guitarist back. Norman said, ‘Hey, how would you like The Fireballs to do lead backup for you?’ And I said, ‘Yeah! You betcha!’”

While a few dozen people trickled into the studio a bit at a time, Kenneth Broad, operator of Petty’s studio, said visitation was a little bit down from previous years.

“It’s better than it was (Friday), but we’re not having large groups of people,” Broad said. “A lot of our regular comers have not been able to come this year, the English people. I think a lot of that is the economy.”

But, there was a couple at the Rock and Roll Museum on Grand Street to celebrate Buddy Holly’s birthday on Saturday.

Linda and John Perry, from Liverpool, England (yes, that Liverpool) said their trip to Clovis was more of a pilgrimage for John Perry, who has been a lifelong Buddy Holly fan.

“I used to play in a band in Liverpool in the 1960s, and we’ve planned this trip for a few years,” John Perry said.

“He’s been asking me to come for a few years, and I kept saying, ‘I’m not going there!’” John’s wife Linda Perry said. “Anyway, I gave in this time, so we made it into a big trip ... It’s a bit of a pilgrimage for you, isn’t it?” Linda Perry asked her husband.

“It is really, yeah,” he answered.

John Perry, who is a big Buddy Holly fan, simply explained the British’s fascination with Holly by saying, “He was so good, wasn’t he?”

What more needs to be said?

Ted Glasscock, who organized the Buddy Holly Birthday Party at the Rock and Roll Museum, said he became fascinated with Holly when he realized they had similarities.

“I got to know about Buddy Holly when Don McLean came out with the ‘American Pie’ song,” Glasscock said. “(Holly) recorded down at the Norman Petty studio in Clovis. He was a tall skinny guy with horn-rimmed glasses who grew up in Lubbock, and so am I! So I said, ‘Well if he can make it, I can, too.”

Glasscock said although Holly’s story is tragic, he still “made a heck of a lot of good music.”

George Tomsco, who played guitar with The Fireballs, told a tour group at the studio his first — and last — encounter with Buddy Holly was when he saw Holly playing his own Fender Stratocaster with a leg propped up on his brand new amp.

Tomsco said at first, he was furious with the stranger playing his guitar and propping his leg up on his new amplifier. But when Petty called Holly out of the recording room and into the lobby, his anger was quickly resolved after realizing who just held his guitar.

That encounter happened in September 1958, he said, only a few months before Holly’s death in February 1959.

Bigham said he found out about Holly’s death from Petty himself.

“It was the tour right before the Winter Dance Party,” Bigham said. “In fact when we got back to New York City from the tour we were on, Norman was waiting for us.”

But Buddy Holly wasn’t the only center of attention this weekend — cars from the 1950s made their way into Hillcrest Park Saturday afternoon and were allegedly glanced at by Lou Gramm himself.

Chuck Lewis, of Clovis and formerly of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, brought his 1939 Urol Russian motorcycle to the lineup Saturday afternoon.

“I come over with the cars and I bring this because people like seeing it,” Lewis said. “I give rides to the kids if the parents go with them.”

Lewis has had his bike since 2006 and has added ammunition boxes, new brakes and other things to make it a little safer and stable to ride.

“The fact that I can work on it ... This, you know, you take a good matchbox to set the valves, shove it in under the valves and if it slides, that’s good,” he said. “I go down to the Harley shop and they give me a lot of static about it being Russian, you know, and I say, ‘Well real bikes have kick-starters, and it takes real men to use ‘em.’”

Ernie Kos, executive director at the Clovis Chamber of Commerce, said this year’s festival has been “a great rocking fun weekend.”

“I think everyone that’s been here has enjoyed themselves,” Kos said. “Again, we’ve had some international guests as well as regional guests and locals that have never even been to the museum or the studio. It’s been a great weekend celebrating the legacy of the Clovis Sound.”

Kos said Friday night’s turnout was “rockin’” and the energy was amazing.

“We had hoped for more tickets to be sold, but the people that were there were dancing and really enjoying their music,” Kos said.

For Saturday night, ticket sales were “fair,” she said — regardless, Lou Gramm had seemingly enjoyed touring everything Clovis had to offer during the weekend.

“He’s been all around town,” Kos said. “He’s been at the car show and all over the place. He’s really into classic cars, and so he’s really pleased to be here in conjunction with that.”