R.I.P. Ethan Reilly (Sept 30, 1955 - Jan 24, 2010)

[Rusty Ray]

In Erinnerung an einen exzellenten Musiker und außergewöhnlichen Menschen

Ethan Reilly (Sept 30, 1955 - Jan 24, 2010)

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[ObiWan]

Ich kann das nur bestätigen.
Ich war heute bei seiner Trauerfeier und hatte die große Ehre dort für ihn ein letztes Mal Gitarre spielen zu dürfen zusammen mit seinen alten Weggefährten.
Die Momente in denen ich mit ihm zusammen Musik machen durfte waren die schönsten in meinem Leben.
RIP Ethan

[Rusty Ray]

DON BRUNER, langjähriger "Boys"-Weggefährte, Sänger, Keyboarder und Gitarrist, erinnert sich...

Ethan Reilly, Colleague, Comrade and Friend.

Herewith I want to respond in words to everyone my thoughts and feelings about Ethan. He played a major role in my life.

What a shock! Although I had heard from a couple of people in Germany that he didn't look as healthy as usual in the last year I never expected that he would pass, particularly at such a young age. I am deeply saddened by this and flooded with memories of him, the years with the Boys, Regensburg and everything in my life that changed as a result of Wolfgang and Ethan meeting and Ethan providing me with the opportunity to work, travel and learn.

Like John, I first met Ethan when he auditioned me for the Boys. Dan, Bob and Pete Harrison had left the band a months earlier, Dan had put another band together (The Marclays I think) and they came to Regensburg to do some gigs which I think inspired Ethan to take the Boys back to Germany with new players. It was me on Keyboards (and a multitude of keyboard sounds), John Cleek on drums (traps), and Pete Sheppard on guitar. Ethan switched to bass as Pete Harrison was no longer there.

In those days Ethan had a very abrasive way with dealing with some people, I was one of them and he started right off at the first rehearsal with a brash disapproval of how I was playing and singing. He was right. I underestimated to what detail he wanted the parts to be played. I was so angry with his lack of "diplomacy" at the first rehearsal I didn't play or sing well and didn't want to. At that time I thought what the hell it's a month and I get to go to Germany. This resulted in me being fired at the end of the first, second and third tours. At the end of each of these tours he would say "You're fi-red....I'm not kidding!"... then I would say "Ok but if you can't find anybody for the next one just give a call."

Luckily he couldn't really find anyone (I like to think that he didn't look real hard) and I think he liked that we had a similar and sick sort of sense of humor and I made him laugh. After that I was hooked. I had been a big Beatles fan, I loved the music, Regensburg and the whole experience. My attitude changed. I slowly came around and and my execution of the parts got better. The "What the hell i'ts a month turned into six years on and another five years off and on with the Boys and AbbaZabba.

I learned a lot from Ethan. Things I have never forgotten. Thank You E! Mostly I remember that the Boys attracted really fun crowds at the concerts we did. Real Beatle and 60s music fans. We met a lot of great people, people I will never forget and many of which I have remained friends with over the years. Like John I was charmed by Regensburg, the people and Germany and figured out ways to stay there in between our tours until finally I gave up my apartment in L.A. and made Regensburg my new home. Meine Zweite Heimat. We had a ton of laughs on and off stage, on the way to gigs and after. Our share of arguments too.

We played all over Bavaria thanks to the promotion of Raimund Wagner's Tuesday night oldies show on Antenne Bayern and we became Antenne's house band and played at their booth with live radio feeds at trade fairs.

We opened for Jerry Lee Lewis on one of his tours and played in Bremen, Kiel, Stuttgart and at Circus Krone in Munich (which for me was a big thrill because the Beatles and all the major acts of the 60s had played there). We were also the opening act for some oldies tours in major venues for artitsts like ZZ Top, Suzie Quatro, Herman's Hermits, the New Mamas and the Papas, The Bay City Rollers etc. Besides playing in major cities in other parts of Germany we also played in Austria, Switzerland, Romania and were on T.V. in Germany several times and in Spain.

We did tons of interviews for radio stations and shot a video to go with the CD that we recorded that ran on the local RTL TV station in Regensburg. Raimund Wagner often played our CD and live versions of us on his show at Antenne. Not too bad for a sixties band. All this came about because Ethan didn't settle for mediocrity. He took a sixties band and made it into a big success and I am glad and proud to have been apart of it.

After I left the Boys and moved back to the states Ethan would line up some gigs and I would come out Germany to play with the Boys again and also with AbbaZabba, Ethan's ABBA tribute band. By this time Ethan and I had become pretty close friends. I would always visit him when I visited Regensburg. He came out a few times to California and to the dueling piano bar where I was working. We often got on the phone just having a laugh over old times or some the of stupid characters that we made up on the many long drives to gigs.

I miss him and it seems so odd that I can't just simply give him a call.

Thanks again E!
Our feet are stained (he knows what I mean)

[BadCompany]

Lieber Rusty Ray,

ich möchte Dir mein Beileid aussprechen zum Verlust eines Freundes und einem, von Dir sehr geschätzten Musikers.

LG.

BC


P.S.

Ich bin schon sehr gespannt am Sonntag die Musik von Ethan Reilly zu hören, der mir - leider - völlig unbekannt war.

[Carl I Fornia]

In Memoriam of Ethan Reilly (Sept 30, 1955 – Jan 24, 2010)

While My Guitar Gently Weeps (George Harrison - The Beatles)

I look at you all see the love there that’s sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at you all
Still my guitar gently weeps

How our friendship started: In my bookshelf I kept some notes from the year 1985 which reads as following:

Friday June 21st: together with Sean at ‘Panchos, Manhattan Beach’: excellent band played (classic rock, many Beatles, Stones, Doors etc)
Saturday June 29th: with Gabi at ‘Panchos’: Superband - classic rock
Friday, July 5th: ‘Panchos’: Superband, called The Boys
Saturday, July 6th: 11.30 PM: ‘Panchos’: talked to the guy of The Boys regarding Music in Germany
Friday, July 12th: evening in ‘Panchos’: talked to Ethan again, he asked me to call him
Saturday, July 13th: ‘Panchos’: excellent as always
Friday, July 19th: ‘Panchos’ (The Boys) Ethan said he wants to do Germany. Needs to go in detail with the band. Ethan will try to work on Demo-tape
Saturday, July 20th: evenings at ‘Panchos’: super atmosphere
Sunday, July 21st: 11 AM Ethan called - drove to him, received Demo-Tape and infomaterial, 12 AM down to Beach, long talk with Ethan, 4 PM: with Ethan to the ‘Alpin Village’

Ethan Reilly: Let’s Rock n Roll..... It was in June 1985 in a small club called ‘Panchos, Manhattan Beach/CA’ when I heard for the first time Ethan and his band ‘The Boys’. Their talent and performance really knocked me down. In this night something turned in my head and in short time I started being involved in music and musicpromotion. At that time surely nobody ever would have imagined the kind of friendship started between us due to this very special concert at the ‘Panchos’ in Manhattan Beach. 25 years of friendship, 25 years of endless stories. Funny stories, serious stories. So many musicevents have been arranged by us. Ethan and the band ‘live on stage’, we as inner circle (Erika, George, me) beside... to sing along, to clap along, but also to curse about some failures.... stories after stories.. Although life separated our whereabouts Ethan and me always stayed in close touch. Coming to Regensburg without meeting Ethan was simply impossible. How many talks, conversations and dicussions we had in ‘the Kneitinger’ or in the ‘Linde’ beergarden or just sitting outside in a pizzeria in the heart of Regensburg. Amusing, cheerful but also profound talkings about many subjects he and me and others of our group were worried and concernced about. I always was impressed by Ethans wits and talent as singer and stageperson, but also for being a subtle person who was an active part for the AIDS foundation and for Oxfam International. Ethan surely was part of my life and, no need to say, my lifetime friend.

With Ethan I lost a dear friend, an extraordinary singer and musician. Surely the world is getting poorer! Thanks for the wonderful music you brought us and for all the wonderful friendships resulting therefrom

[Carl I Fornia]

so who is this Reilly? Something of the true Procoholic shines out of the very wording of his album-cover, and from the address that adorns the inside: 'Live from the Hotel White Lamb, Ratisbona, Roman Empire'! 'Greetings Procol Parishioners throughout the Cosmos!

Long about three months ago, as I prepared some sequences to augment a project for an upcoming tour, I was suddenly struck with a curious, wee hankering to pursue an idea which had long bounced aimlessly through my rattled skull. Boing! Boing! Boing! Boing!

Enclosed you will find one 'performance unit', containing the harvest of untold hours transcribing, sequencing, and faithfully editing an inspired, if ambitious tribute to an inexcusably under-celebrated moment in pop music history. It was no easy task trying to replicate this stuff in all its brilliance. Most especially BJ's drum parts seemed to laugh mockingly at the mere notion of electronic replication. It was with grave doubts therefore, that I perused the original performances, in sobering reverence. Still, my scepticism would prove no match for this gnawing inclination, and on the day of 25 February, 1998, I did commence programming; part by part, bar by bar.

... Many years passed. Many lives were lost. And then when hoped seemed to have wheezed its final gasp, from the cyber-abyss did I emerge – catch in hand. Alas, this was only to face the fiercest contender of all: the vast and arduous task of 'unloosing' a veritable mountain of metronomic data, and snagging the elusive pearl form this clenched and chilly oyster! I will leave you to judge my results.

For those who may be interested: these sequences were conjured using Logic software, with the Roland XP80, and Alesis S4+ synthesizers. Lastly, though not leastly (!), I have known from the outset, that an undertaking as delicate as this one, could well result in the most highly conspicuous dispensation of egg to my industrious little face. If, for any reason, I have missed the mark in my efforts, I can only offer my humble apologies, and indeed remove my hat to all those transcending my own, perversely entrenched Procol-meticulosity! That said, it is my sincere hope that this little souvenir of Ethan’s Adventures in Procoland will spark some delight or (dare I say) fascination in the ears of all those for whom it rears its grisly, frothing mug!

Wishing You and Yours A Super-Swell Day!
Ethan Reilly
Regensburg,
Germany

[Carl I Fornia]

A Salty Sequence
Ethan Reilly's Tuneful Little Crustaceans
________________________________________
Talk about hubris! It's one thing for a Procol fan to record his own version of A Salty Dog. Surely it's quite another to attempt to recreate the backing-track, orchestra, piano, three-string guitar, and Barrie Wilson ... with synthesisers!
Yet this is what Ethan Reilly – by his own admission a non-keyboardist with double tinnitus – has done on A Salty Sequence, and it's extraordinarily good. If there's a pub anywhere on the planet where a karaoke Salty Dog would be tolerated, this is the disc to take with you on the big night: and for your encore, a note-perfect Wreck of the Hesperus is included as well.

When this immaculately-realized record first came into circulation, Larry Pennisi wrote thus to the Procol Harum mail-list:

All and sundry, I am today in receipt of Ethan Reilly's wonderful digital tribute to PH, A Salty Sequence. While done electronically, the sonorous acoustic tones he has achieved are a delight to the ears. Authentically reproducing ASD, Hesperus and a piano only section called Piano Wreck, it is almost like listening to the originals only without the vocals. Tastefully recorded and painstakingly planned, I highly recommend A Salty Sequence to any PH collector. It is a wonderful addition and is quite novel. It was obviously recorded and realized with a a

[Carl I Fornia]

The following and the above comment entered by me (Carl I Fornia) were taken by www.procolharum.com/salty_seq.htm


It was obviously recorded and realized with a great deal of loving care.

I was impressed by the strings' dramatic upward sweep towards the end of A Salty Dog, though perhaps the tone of their pizzicato is a little curt. I wonder if it's just me, or can others hear the ghost of Brooker's voice in their headphones? It will be interesting to know if other Palers can listen to Ethan's work without inwardly hearing the soaring Brooker tonsils.

I love the swooping strings and plunging brass: Ethan's adventures wonderfully focus our fresh attention on something that may have been staled by thirty years' lo-fi familiarity.

[Carl I Fornia]

Ethan Reilly (Sept 30, 1955 - Jan 24, 2010)


Ethan was born on Sept 30th, 1955 in New York but moved with his family to Los Angeles in the late 50s. His father was an actor (main character in the TV serie “Lassie”) and Ethan was used to perform from his very young age. He learned to play all kind of different music instruments like all kind of guitars (from bass to pedal steel guitar), drums, keyboard, harmonica. His voice was trained by professional voice teachers.

Ethan Reilly was a high respected professional musician. In 1980 he was a regular member in the band of “Glen Campell” (world famous songs: Rhinestone cowboy, sunflowers, Calverston) with whom he toured around the world and played several month in the big showrooms of Las Vegas.

Addicted to the music of the sixties, especially but not only by The Beatles, Ethan was the founder of the group “The Boys – The sound of the sixties” in 1983. The band played all around California as well as in other states of America. In 1986 they performed first time in Europe. Since this time Ethan Reilly and his musicians were regularly performing in Germany. Due to the success and possibilities in Europe Ethan decided to live most the time in Germany however flew back and forth to the States.

(The Boys: long time the ‘houseband’ of Germanys biggest private Radio station ‘Antenne Bayern’. The Boys played big venues like Olympia Hall in Munich, the famous ‘Circus Krone’ in Munich, they toured all around Germany and appeared at several leading TV-stations. Ethan and the Boys were invited to perform in a TV-show in Spain and also played several live appearances in Romania.)

Ethan also was a high respected songwriter and studio musician. One of his composition is the hymn of the professional american baseball team “California Angels, Los Angeles ”.

The hymn is being played before every game in the Angels stadium, showing Ethan on a big screen, watched by 10.000s of spectators. In addition to that he wrote songs for famous singers like Nancy Sinatra, Grammy winning recording artist Ricky Skaggs or Mel Tillis (Mel Tillis: several top chart hits, Nr 1 hit, elected into Nahsville ‘Songwriters Hall of Fame’ as well as CMAs ‘Entertainer of the year’)

Ethan perfomed live on stage as well in TV with stars like Willie Nelson, Glen Campell, Crystale Gayle ("Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue")

Ethan left his family, friends, fans and music colleaques on Sunday, January 24th, 2010.

[Carl I Fornia]

REGENSBURG. Auf dem Theodor-Heuss-Platz und im Georg-Hegenauer-Park ging es rund dieses Wochenende. Die Zahl der Besucher schätzte man auf weit über zehntausend.

Der Theodor-Heuss-Platz hatte noch nie so viele Besucher gehabt. Aber das vom Veranstalter befürchtete Chaos blieb aus. Lediglich die Maßkrüge wurden zum Schluß zu wenig.

Obwohl Bedenken bezüglich des Ordnungsamtes geäußert wurden, durften die "Boys" eine Stunde länger (geplant war nur bis 22:00 Uhr) vor ihren begeisterten Fans einen Hit nach dem anderen spielen.

Als dann pünktlich um 23 Uhr 3333 Sternwerfer angezündet wurden und "Let it be" erklang, waren sich die Organisatoren sicher: "Sowas hat Königswiesen noch nicht erlebt".
FOTO

Weit über 10 000 Menschen kamen: Der Auftritt der Boys war der absolute Höhepunkt.