Liverpool Third Time Around

On Sunday, June 24, 2018 I left for Liverpool, England for the third time. The previous trips were in 2004 and 2006 and I travelled alone. This time accompanying me were pioneer rocker Chan Romero and videographer Tony Reyes. On my previous two solo trips many of the veteran Liverpool rockers would ask me about Chan, who is legendary there because his song "The Hippy Hippy Shake" was played by virtually all the Liverpool bands of the 60s, including The Beatles. The Swingin' Blue Jeans, another Liverpool band, had a #2 hit in England in 1964 with Chan's song. Ever since my second trip I thought about getting Chan to Liverpool. He'd performed in England before, but had never played in the city where he's probably the most popular. The years went by and I realized I'd better make it happen now because Chan was already in his late 70s. I e mailed Arty Davies, the drummer who I'd played with on my previous trips, and Spencer Leigh of BBC Meseyside radio, whose show I’d been on twice before. In a matter of a few weeks we had four shows in three nights scheduled thanks to Arty and an interview/performance event at the British Music Experience that Spencer hooked us up with. Tony Reyes, who had recently done a new "Hippy Hippy Shake" video with Chan, came along to document our experience.

Starting on Tuesday, Chan and I played four venues in three nights. Our backing band were the same musicians who backed me on my 2006 visit, the Firewheels; George Eccles on guitar, Ritchie Ballard on bass, Frank Hopley on piano, and Arty Davies on drums. The first night we played the Crown Inn, the second at the Wallasey British Legion for the Cheshire Cats, and the third at the Oldy Club for the Merseycats and later at the Cadwa for the Liverpool Rock & Roll Society. At all the venues I would do my set first which included all 50s and 60s rock covers such as “Rock & Roll Music,” “Slow Down,” “Roll Over Beethoven.” and “Long Tall Sally.” Chan would follow with his set and I would stay on stage and back him on lead guitar. Chan’s set included his 50s songs “My Little Ruby,” “I Want Some More,” and “The Hippy Hippy Shake” and he’d close with “La Bamba.” On the third day I started to lose my voice. I might have caught something on the plane. That night my voice wasn’t very good. I couldn’t hit high notes well, but I gave it all I had and croaked my way through my set. The third night it was worse, but I went for it again. Normally I would have been very upset that I couldn’t sing the way I wanted to, but it didn’t bother me too much this time because as far as I was concerned this trip was about Chan. In Liverpool, to people of the 50s and 60s generation, Chan is a rock & roll pioneer and icon. In that era, every band in Liverpool played or recorded his song “The Hippy Hippy Shake,” including The Beatles. Everyone was thrilled to meet him, especially the musicians. Chan was signing autographs at all the venues. During one of the days Arty, Tony and I took Chan to the Cavern, where the Beatles played 275 times! Arty told a musician who was playing guitar and singing there about Chan being there and he invited Chan up and introduced him. Arty also told one of the managers about Chan and they gave him something to sign and put in one of their rock & roll display cabinets.

On Friday afternoon, on day five or our trip, Spencer Leigh of BBC Merseyside, met us at our hotel and interviewed Chan and me. Luckily, my voice was getting better. That night, Chan and I were on a panel along with Ralph Ellis, the leader of the Swingin’ Blue Jeans who had a #2 hit with “The Hippy Hippy Shake” in England in 1964. He and Chan had never met. They hit it off great! Ralph thanked Chan for the song that was their first hit. Chan thanked Ralph for the money he made from their version. He said it paid a lot of bills. The event was held at the British Music Experience Museum, which houses artifacts from the history of British rock. Spencer Leigh was the moderator. He asked each of us questions and Chan and I performed acoustically. Spencer had done his research. He asked me about Mark & the Escorts and how our 1965 recording, “Get Your Baby,” appeared in the “Logan Lucky” movie. He also asked about my dad so I performed “Los Chucos Suaves” after explaining to the audience what a Chicano is. Chan sang “The Hippy Hippy Shake” and “La Bamba” with me on lead guitar. At the end of the presentation, Spencer asked us to do “The Hippy Hippy Shake again. We did it and a blues harmonica player from the audience came up and jammed it with us. We found out later his name is Al Peters. It was a rockin’ way to end the event. It was a full house and the audience members loved the presentation. Many brought Chan Romero records and other things for Chan to sign. It was a very special night at the museum.

The last day in town, Chan, Arty, and I did an interview at a radio station in Runcorn, a district of Liverpool where Arty lives. We later went to Arty’s daughter Rosalyne's house, where there was a party with some of his friends and relatives. Despite my loss of voice for most of the trip, the experience could not have been better. We had a good time every day and night we were there. Our videographer, Tony Reyes, documented all our shows and the event at the British Music Experience, most of which is now on YouTube. To the locals who grew up in the 50s and 60s, it was historic for Chan to finally get to Liverpool. It was a big deal for them. From Chan’s point of view, he was happy and amazed at how popular he was there. I was happy to be a part of making it happen.

Video of Chan and Mark

Chan and I made this video c. 2005 to say hello to my Liverpool friends. In 2018, my mates in Liverpool used the video to publicize our shows before we arrived in Liverpool.