THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 8, 1995 TAG: 9503080062
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By Larry Bonko, Television writer
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
IT IS THE STORY of the birth, growth and staying power of rock 'n' roll, from Bo Diddley to the Beastie Boys, from Bill Haley to Smashing Pumpkins.
Two people who grew up in Norfolk had much to do with bringing ``The History of Rock 'n' Roll'' to television - the three-part series begins tonight on WGNT at 8 - and to home video. The extended, 10-hour version of ``The History of Rock 'n' Roll'' will be available through Warner Home Video and Time-Life Video on March 21.
Dick Robertson, whose father, Trafton, was a big name on radio for years in this market with WTAR, runs Warner Brothers Domestic Television Distribution and the Prime Time Entertainment Network. PTEN will air ``The History of Rock 'n' Roll'' on 130 stations.
It continues on Channel 27 Thursday night at 8 and Sunday at 7 p.m.
Betsy Bruce, whose father, Bill, once appeared in dozens of TV commercials promoting his Ford dealership here, heads up Time-Life Video. She's been president about a year, after coming over from Home Box Office.
Both Robertson, from his office in Burbank, Calif., and Bruce, from Time-Life Video's headquarters in Arlington, Va., said ``The History of Rock `n' Roll'' is a documentary on a grand scale. It was three years in the making and includes more than 250 in-concert performances.
``It will please the aficionado and the casual fan,'' said Robertson, who has been particularly busy in recent months launching the ``Extra'' TV magazine show into syndication, fine-tunning the Jenny Jones talk show and supervising cast changes on the syndicated science-fiction series ``Babylon 5.''
Jones' ratings are up 87 percent from a year ago. ``Extra'' had a shaky start but will survive in syndication as a hipper version of ``Entertainment Tonight.'' ``Babylon 5'' is doing better in the ratings with Bruce Boxleitner installed in the lead, and ``The History of Rock 'n' Roll'' sold quickly to stations here and abroad.
That's some wheeling and dealing.
Seems like only yesterday he was a kid hanging around the WTAR studios, eager to learn broadcasting from the ground up.
Bruce is also humming as Time-Life Video puts the finishing touches on its ``Lost Civilizations'' package. It will run on network TV before heading for the video stores.
For the moment, her focus is on ``The History of Rock 'n' Roll,'' in which 204 people are interviewed. The series is talky. In the 1,807 film clips, you'll see some obscure footage of the rock 'n' roll giants, Bruce promised.
The most obscure, and most entertaining, that I came across was film of a young Bob Dylan in Episode No. 4, ``Plugging In.'' It was also neat to see the Beach Boys, Brian and Carl Wilson and Al Jardine, reunited in a recording studio for the first time in 15 years.
If it's been ages since you heard Devo, the Sex Pistols, Kiss or Iggy Pop, here's your chance to catch up. There's even a glimpse of the Village People in Episode No. 8.
Somebody figured out that if you bought CDs with the music heard in ``The History of Rock `n' Roll,'' it would cost about $4,000. The tab for attending the concerts in the series would exceed $7,000. Gary Busey, who played Buddy Holly in the movies, is the narrator.
More of the local angle: Portsmouth-born Ruth Brown appears in Episode No. 1, ``Rock 'n' Roll Explodes,'' to sing her classic, ``Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean.''
``Ruth was the essence of the music that inspired early rock. She had the feeling,'' said Jeffrey Peisch, who created the series with Quincy Jones aboard as executive producer.
Ruth Brown, yes. But where is Norfolk's very own Gary ``U.S.'' Bonds, whose recording of ``Quarter to Three'' did as much to advance rock as did Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bill Haley?
Rock as been around for decades. Where and when did it begin in America? Did it happen on the day in 1955 when Bill Haley and the Comets released ``Rock Around the Clock''? Did the dawn come way back in 1941 when Les Paul, working in his garage studio, conceived the solid-body electric guitar? Or did Elvis Presley usher in rock 'n' roll when he entered a recording booth at Sun Records for the first time?
The beginning, said Peisch, who is 41, and very much a child of rock, is found in the gospel music and rhythm and blues that was around long before Little Richard showed up to sing ``Tutti Frutti'' or Presley checked into ``Heartbreak Hotel.'' Peisch said he devoted an entire episode to the roots of rock, saying the music had four building blocks.
They are country, gospel, rhythm and blues and jazz. Rock is a music of freedom and rebellion, said Peisch. It speaks for the young. Those in the 1950s who said it was a fad that would soon fade were wrong. ``It's lasted for 50 years,'' said Peisch.
Who is to say it won't be around for another 50? To borrow from a lyric sung by Muddy Waters decades ago, rock 'n' roll still has its mojo working. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
Photo
Bill Haley was one of the pioneers of rock.
by CNB