European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 17, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse What s the word thunderbird by Anita Gosch Stak writer Ere s a scoop for Kim Wilson the Stout mustachioed Lead Singer and Harmonica player for the fabulous thunderbird. Is eager to Lell about the quartet s latest Conquest. We just won the . Handy award Tor Best blues winning the prestigious award Given in Honor of the american blues musician and composer who penned is. Louis blues should have come As no Surprise to Wilson or to anyone familiar Wilh the thunderbird wave of Success. Since the release of heir album tulle nuff. With the top 10 title 1rack, the thunderbird have soared from bar band status to becoming a household word along Wilh the near constant radio airplay of the single this summer the Texas blues veterans have appeared regularly on american television on such shows As solid Gold american bandstand and lha David Lel Learnan show they la be performing in the upcoming movie the Light of Day with Michael j. Fox and Rocker Joan Jelt. They have a standing inv Talion to appear in the soap opera one life to live. And we be just been nominated for the guinness Book of world records for having the same song in three different major motion pictures in the same quips drummer fran Christina. Turf snuff was used in the sound Iracks to Tungho Tough Guys and the naked Cage yet just a Little More than a year ago. Things could t have been worse or the thunderbird. They had virtually no Money no record company and no Hope Lor Ever escaping the Honky Tonk circuit in America. Their previous Label Chrysalis under which they had released four albums had been taken Over by Columbia records. The corporate giant soon dropped the unprofitable band the thunderbird blend of straight ahead feb. Hillbilly cock n Roll and cajun f rhythms was no match Tor the Bischno pop the Label was then picking up. But he thunderbird went ahead and recorded Tull nut with producer Dave Edmunds paying for the expenses from what Little was left of their earnings from live performances. Record companies would t pay attention to us because we were so different says Christina they could t Mold us into what they eventually lbs associated records took a Chance and signed the band. It was the song pop Memorabilia Ria fab four fun chit Tina Lefta Lamb Vaughn Paton Hubbard Kim we on. Sold the album a song thai almost did t make it on the finished product. We wanted this album to be More on the up Side of the to Birds and we thought the song was maybe too Bluesy for it says Christina. We All thought it was anything but top 40 Christina and Wilson feel a change in the music scene helped spark the Success of he song. People Are getting tired of syn who pop and techno pop and video machine says Christina. Now they re starting to get off on a real person playing a real drum and just straightforward recording anything Wilh a Little bit of feeling or hear i or soul to it adds Wilson people Are gravitating toward that because everything else is just a Bunch of posing. Ii half these people were As talented As they were pretty they d be began in the Mld-70s when Wilson teamed up with guitarist Liminie Vaughan brother of celebrated Guilar isl Stevie Ray Vaughan. To perform on the Dallas Austin club circuit. Christina joined in 1980 when the band s original drummer left in the Middle of an East coast tour. He had been living in the Woods in Nova Scotia and had no Telephone he says so the band had to Send the Royal Canadian mounted police alter him bassist Preston Hubbard is the newest member of the thunderbird having joined in 1984. During the first 12 Yoars the band garnered a Small but hard Core following of re fans in bars and Honky tonks across the United states. Now with the Success of the single they Heve a much larger and broader audience says Christina Wilh Many More younger fans than before but the thunderbird say they la stay True to their old style and their longtime fans. It s so easy for people to say you re Selling outlays Christina. I Don t know if it s jealousy or what it is but you just go along end keep on doing what you be been doing and just because you re getting More popular people Start to say that you re getting commercial. We have not changed our musical attitude one Bil we be always tried to do songs that we be liked and Well continue to do that. We re looking for our own a whimsical but growing Industry associated press Ilary Kay says she can spot a bogus beatle autograph at a glance a Talent in increasing demand in the fast growing Industry of pop Memorabilia. Kay is a Pioneer of this newest Bonanza for the auction ering world Ever on the Lookout for such treasures As a Napkin signed by Elvis Presley or George Harrison s first guitar. And in aging Rock fans Don t accept that those Good old Days have gone establishment they need Only look at who s doing the Selling Christie a rotheby s and Phillips venerable auction ering names More readily associated with old master paintings 16th-Century snuff boxes and Renoir originals than with a Rolls Royce in Day glow colors once owned by sex beatle John Lennon. At rotheby a Eipert on pop Memorabilia Kay has been staging an auction a year since 1981, taking bids front As far afield As Japan and Australia and publishing sumptuous Cata logs fitted with photographs of beatles Gold records a Wristwatch owned by Presley a guitar once used by Jimi Hendrix a Steinway baby grand piano played by Elton John. Collectibles Ere Kay t Trade and the Rock Era her passion. She daydreams she says about a wonderful old guitar lurking in some secondhand goods shop and nobody s aware that it once belonged to Eric she says she got the idea while looking for new markets for a business eager to shed its aloof image. I was interested in people who had an interest in rare objects and had a disposable income but were not catered to by conventional rotheby sales rotheby s first Rock auction was five years ago. Highlighted by two pianos battered but distinguished for having once belonged to Lennon and co Bealle Paul Mccartney. They fetched 7,500 and 8,000 pounds respectively then equivalent to $13,800 and �14,720. But the item that told rotheby s it was onto a Winner was a simple Lennon self portrait that etched $14,720 60 times its estimated value. In All. The Sale raised 1179,695 almost double the expected total. Since then each auction has seen higher revenues reaching �396,755 at last August s Sale. Christie s and Phillips soon joined the Rush. It certainly is a growing Market a whimsical Market but holding its ground vary jell says Kerry Wallace pop expert at Christie a which held is Oral pop auction wednesday december 17, 1988 three years ago. Her favorite item la bit Haley s guitar which he Tell in London for repairs after a european tour and did not live to collect. It sold this year for $22,000. The Industry it dominated by beatles Memorabilia simply because the foursome were so successful. But Presley items Are showing up More frequently and items from the rolling stones Elton John led Zeppelin Jimi Hendrix buddy Holly Eric Clapton and the Beach boys were featured at rotheby s last auction. One poignant hem was an old guitar that George Harrison s parents bought for him for $12 Long before he became a beatle. Ii sold Tor 15,600. Rod Murray a Friend of Lennon s who was unable to join the beatles in 1960 because he could not afford a guitar sold an unpublished collection of Lennon s poetry and prose through rotheby s in 1984 for $22.860. The beatles Mai feet is enormous says Peter Johnson of Phillips. And then there s the Guy who came from Memphis what s his name Elvis Presley. That s the one he s a Good fellow. But he did t generate As Many artefacts As the Bealum they were Nice the stars and strikes Psi pvt
