Page 2—Smoke Signals, January 30, 1986
Rick Nelson
And Five Other
Passengers Die
In Plane Crash
Ricky Nelson, the rock ’n' roll idol
who grew up in “The Adventures of Oz-
zie and Harriet,” and “kind of faded
out” before re-emerging as a country-
rock star died in a plane crash that also
killed his fiancee four of his band
niemt)ers and a sound man.
Nelson, 45, was born Eric Hillard
Nelson in Teaneck, N.J., and became
“Ricky" when his parents transferred
their radio show to television, where it
portrayed the real-life adventures of a
middle-class family from 1952-66.
Ozzie Nelson died of cancer in 1975 at
the age of 68.
As America watched, Ricky grew
from an 11-year-old with a crew cut to a
teen-age singing idol, to a 25-year-old
husband. But he never seemed to
outgrow the apple-pie image of the
Nelsons’ younger son.
After a girlfriend told him in 1956 that
she preferred Elvis Presley, Ricky
decided to make a record himself and
come up with a string of hits, amassing
nine gold records by 1961, including
“Poor Little Fool" and "It’s l^te."
Other hits include “Mary Lou" and
“Travelin’ Man.”
In 1957, he first performed "Teen
ager's Romance,” and “I’m Walkin,”
on the show. The songs became his first
million-sellers.
In the 1970’s, having matured and
become Rick Nelson, he enjoyed a new
lease on his singing career when he
formed the Stone Canyon Band.
The title track of 1972’s "Garden Par
ty” album, an autobiographical ac
count of his reception at a gig at New
York’s Madison Square Garden, was a
major hit and produced another gold
record.
During the 1980’s, he toured country
fairs and said he would like to do more
work in television.
He married Kristin Harmon on April
20, 1963, and had four children: Tracy
Kristine, twins Gunnar Eric and Mat
thew Gray, and Sam Hillard.Tracy
Nelson also is an actress.
Nelson divorced Harmon and was
engaged to, marry Ms. Blair, of Los
Angeles.
Rick Nelson's movies included;
“Here come The Nelsons,” 1951; “Story
of Three Uves,” 1953; “Rio Brava,”
1958; "Wackiest Ship in the Army,”
1960; and “Love and Kisses,” 1965.
Nelson died when his private DC-3, en
route to Dallas from Guntersville,
crashed at 5:30 p.m. CST near DeKalb,
Texas, said Ronnie Fincher, a Depart
ment of Public Safety trooper in Tex
arkana. The pilot and co-pilot survived.
Nelson was due to perform at a New
Year’s Eve engagement in Dallas. His
last performance was Monday night at
PJ’s Lounge in Guntersville, Ala., said
Pat Upton, co-owner of the club and a
former member of Nelson’s band.
“(He) represented a lot of rock ’n’ roll
tradition,” Upton said.
Singer Bobby Vinton, reached in Las
Vegas, Nev., said people have forgotten
how big Nelson was as an early rock ’n’
roll singer.
"If you look at his hits, he had a
tremendous number of big records,”
Vinton said. “He was almost as big as
Elvis”
“He kind of retired and then he came
back. If he would have stayed with it
when he was at his hottest, he’d have
been an even bigger legend than he is
today."
Skip Young, who appeared for nine
years on “Ozzie and Harriet” as Wally,
the wild pal of Ricky and Dave with the
imitable giggle, said he and Ricky
“would reflect on the popularity of the
show and how it went on and on and
on.”
Reruns of the program are still shown
on The Disney Channel.
“Having started our career at a
similar time, 1 felt a special kinship to
him,”, singer Paul Anka said. "... He
was just at the beginning of his career
and had so much more to share.”
Honor’s List
Fall Semester 1985-86
PRESIDENT’S LIST (4.00)
Baker, Delores A.
Bennett, Michelle M.
Bowers, Jacqueline S.
Deal, Lala M.
Gerchman, Patricia S.
Kompkoff-Purvis, Sylvia A.
Michael, Scott
Peykamian, Shahram
Ruffin, Dorothy S.
Walston, Lisa A.
Vazdchi-Nejad, Mehrzad
Yazdchi-Nejad, Shahrzad
DEAN’S LIST (3.50-3.99)
Abemethy, Alan B.
Allen, Jr., Alvin
Anderson, Robert A.
Andrade, Jimmy A.
Aydlett, David P.
B^er, Diana L.
Baker, James H.
Britt, Leah Y.
Canfield, Scott E.
Capps, Scott G.
Decker, Mark S.
Felton, Angela E.
Frazier, Robin L.
Hawkins, Rebecca D.
Holland, Roberts.
Holmes, Kimberly L.
Igarashi,Takashi
Joyner, Peggy D.
Kongruanguit, Suttichai
Lee, Benjamin E.
Mardre, Mary S.
Matney, Wendy A.
Miyake, Kaoru
Philips, Frederick F.
Qamar, Ramzi Y.
Shrewsbury, Barbara J.
Smith, D. Francine
Uemura, Miho
Vaughan, Thomisene
Watson, Michael L.
Williams, Nanette W.
Lovelace, Kimberly M.
HONOR’S LIST (3.00-3.49)
Albritton, Pamela J.
Kohagen, Teresa L,
Alston, Thomas M.
Kovacs, Steven R.
Blake, Timothy 0.
Lee,Jay R.
Boonyaprapatsara, Chatchai
McQenney, John J.
Brewer, Kelly J.
McQung, Russell L.
Bunch, Melonie F.
Mull, Kirk R.
Burk, Deanna L.
Nichols, Jr., Lewis W.
Burleson, Rebecca C.
Ortiz, Rodney
Bynim, William J.
Pearce, Joseph L.
Casterlow, Donnie G.
Phelps, Wendy L.
Cullinane, James P.
Porch, Sandra S.
Delph, Matthew G.
Pulley, Michael D.
EUer, Susan L.
Reyes, Mario A.
Epps, Mary L.
Roddy, Michael A.
Fisher, Michael A.
Roe, Karen L.
Forrest, Robert T.
Roop, Sheila R.
Fowler, Jason E.
Saunders, Jr., Robert G.
Gaines, Traci Y.
Sharpe, Eric T,
Gardner, Rebecca R.
Smith, Brent P.
Garrison, Darrell B.
Sneed, Robert H.
Gray, Jr., Jimmy R.
Thomas, Jerry D.
Griffith, Sharon B.
Wall, Danny A.
Haghjou, Shirin
Walsh, Timothy M.
Hardy, Carla F.
Walston, Randall W.
Harrell, Alice G.
Whaley, II, Bobby W.
Harrell, Alison K.
Whitley, Jr., James E.
Johnson, Diane E.
Womom, William U.
Kilian, Ricky L.
“GENUINELY FRIGHTENING.
SUSPENSEFUL AND SCARY”
—Janet Maslin. N.Y. Times
“It’s great. Extremely frightening.
Very scary. What I did in the book
is still present in the movie.”
— SlfflKlNG on Good Morning America, ABC-TV
“A real edge-of-the-seater.”
—Ernest Leogronde, N.Y. Doily News
“Don’t miss it.”
—Stephen Schaefer. US Magazine
January 30, 31/7:00
Thursday and Friday
Turner Auditorium
Home Taping Tax?
Since the recent hearings on Capitol Hill concern
ing “porn rock”, the recording industry has made
Washington its second home. The latest development
is a bill sponsored by Sen. Charles Mathias (R-Md)
which will impose royalty fees on the purchase of
blank audio cassettes and tape recorders.
The record industry has been around this maypole
once before. However, the circumstances were a lit
tle different. At that time, it was the pre-Michael
Jackson era when the industry was not selling
albums and video games reigned supreme.
The cry went out that the illegal taping of albums,
in their entirety, was damaging the economic
welfare of the industry. As the industry rebounded
and video games did a slow burn in the adolescent
marketplace, the cry eventually faded to a whim
per.
So now it seems the recording industry has been
lobbying-heavily again and caught the ears of some
of our more prominent senators. Appealing to the
senator’s respect for artists, this industry ploy at
tempts to impose royalty fees where there is no
justification.
Everyone who owns a stereo or some recording
device has taped a record album for replaying.
However, no study has ever found a valid correlative
relationship between home taping and the loss of
record sales revenue. Most home taping is of albums
that are owned by the taper.
Another problem with this proposed legislation is
that it presupposes that when someone buys a blank
audio cassette, of high quality or otherwise, they in
tend to record music. Now we are not so naive to
believe that the majority of people don’t use it for
this express purpose. However, this presupposition is
not something on which to base the law.
Record companies are eager for this bill to go
through because it creates profit where there
previously was none. This also brings to light another
fault of the current legislation. To redistribute this
money fairly in the record industry through the
Copyright Royalty Tribunal is a difficult proposition.
Should it be equitably distributed? Who are these ar
tists?
The legislation does not attempt to answer this pro
blem. While we feel that the senators sponsoring this
bill have the artists’ financial solvency in mind, it is
clear that this bill creates more problems than it
solves and is a boon to no one but the record com
panies who in this time of a record buying
resurgence hardly need a helping hand.
If Not, Here*s How to Fight Back.
Record company big-wigs want you to
pay a tax every time you buy a blank tape and
every time you buy audio recording equipment
They're pushing Congress to tax you. And to
send them the money.
A dollar or more on every blank tape.
I025% on cassette decks, boom boxes,
portable stereos, or anything else you use
to record.
The record companies say home taping hurts
them. The truth is they can't be hurting too
much. Last year, they hit new highs in sales and
profits. Ma)^ they just want to take a few
bucks from your pocket to put in their own.
What do you think’
Do you want to pay them a tax to tape a
record so you can play it In your car’ Do you
want to pay them a tax when you tape a lec
ture? How about a tax for the tape you use in
your telephone answering machine, or the tape
of your little boy's birthday party, or the tape
of your daughter’s first trumpet solo?
Can you stop this tax? Yes! Here's how.
Call us. Our tolUfree number is
1-800-282-TAPE.
Write us. Use the coupon to the right.
THE AUDIO RECORDING RIGHTS COALITION is a
coalition of consumers, retailers and manufecturers of audio
products dedicated to preserving your right to use these
producu free of private taxes or government interference.
TO: Aiidle Recording
Rights Coalltloti
PO. Box 3370S • II4S 19th Street NW •
W!uhington. DC 20033
Please tell my represerimives In Congress
that I oppose H.R. 2911 or any legislation that
would impose taxes on audio recorders or
blank tape
Oty_
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