“When the world is full of butterflies and sunshine again”

“I started performing music in public during my high school years and had a successful band in Cleveland, Ohio back in the 1970s called Buckeye Biscuit,” says light classical jazz guitarist Ron Franklin. “We’re mentioned in the book Rock and Roll and the Cleveland Connection.” Franklin earned a Master of Music degree in Guitar Performance from Texas Tech University and has taught music for the San Diego College of Continuing Education and the San Diego Community College District. In 2013, he won an Emmy award as a producer for the Good Food Factory TV show, a healthy cooking show for kids. “I composed songs for each episode and performed on the show, which airs on Cox Cable Channel 4 in San Diego and several other markets. I continue to work as a video producer and voice-over artist.” Franklin just released a new album of original music for solo guitar called Mysterious Deep. “One piece, ‘Surf Factory,’ was written for The Good Food Factory. It played in the episode that won a regional Emmy award for me and three of my friends who helped produce the show. Several other pieces, including the title piece ‘Mysterious Deep,’ were written for a locally produced DVD for Next Generation Yoga.”

Singer-guitarist and songwriter Joey Harris got his start in the late seventies playing lead guitar for Americana star John Stewart, up until MCA records released his debut solo album, Joey Harris and the Speedsters, in 1983. He joined the Beat Farmers in 1985, writing, singing, and playing on five Beat Farmer LPs. He sings lead in the Curb Records-produced music video for “Hollywood Hills” and was seen singing lead on his tune “Hideaway” when the Beat Farmers appeared on Late Night with David Letterman.

Harris also toured and recorded with Country Dick Montana, Dave Alvin, and Mojo Nixon as a member of their Las Vegas-style review band, the Pleasure Barons. After playing in Powerthud with fellow former Beat Farmer Jerry Raney, Harris went on to a concept band he called the Joey Show, and then his current backing group The Mentals, who released a self-named CD in summer 2009 on local Double Barrel Records. Joey Harris & the Mentals appear on Saturday, January 29, at Grand Ole BBQ.

Singer-songwriter Cindy Lee Berryhill first earned notice in 1987 with her debut album, which spawned the hit track “Damn, I Wish I Was a Man” (“I’d be sexy with a belly like Jack Nicholson”). Her husband, rock critic and Crawdaddy magazine founder Paul Williams, died in 2013, having suffered declining health ever since a 1995 North County bicycle accident. “Paul Williams’ papers, original manuscripts, books, Crawdaddy magazines, and overarching archive, including T-shirts, now has a home in the special collections at University of Massachusetts Amherst,” says Berryhill. “This was in the works for the past six years, finding a home. It took a lot of time and sorting and wooing by the great rare bookman Henry Wessells of James Cummins Books in New York. You can see quite a lot of Henry in the recent The Booksellers documentary…fans and family and friends can be gratified to know it will be cared for and loved under the helm of Aaron Rubinstein of special collections. As soon as Covid has subsided and the world is full of butterflies and sunshine again, [our son] Alexander and I will go visit Paul’s papers. This is such an important moment for Paul’s work. One of the great last things I needed to do for Paul was to find a place where his papers can be seen and referenced by anyone in the public. And cared for.”

Formed in the early 1980s, Manual Scan was one of the premiere U.S. mod bands of the 1980s. Releasing a string of singles beginning in 1981 and an album issued in both the U.S. and England in 1986, the band toured extensively throughout California and Arizona, as well as England (the 100 Club, the Marquee, etc) and Mexico. Co-founders Bart Mendoza and Kevin Ring later disbanded the group and formed The Shambles, but in recent years they’ve reassembled Manual Scan for various recordings and performances. Their seminal Plan of Action EP was reissued in late 2020 by Spain’s SNAP! Records, on black vinyl, blue vinyl, and as a picture disc. According to Mendoza, “Manual Scan is playing at the Mods Mayhem Festival taking place June 3 through 5 in Los Angeles. Other bands include The Untouchables, The Chords UK, and The Odd Numbers. To coincide with the event, there will be a ten-inch limited edition vinyl album of rarities from the bands performing. Manual Scan’s contribution is an unreleased version of our song ‘Confidence and Love,’ recorded in 1985 at Circle Sound Studios.”

San Diego Blues Hall of Fame inductee Chill Boy began playing harp with small blues bands in the late 1960s. After picking up the guitar, he spent much of the ‘70s with a show band called Roxx, touring the Midwest and Canada until relocating to California in 1980. In addition to serving as band leader for the Ike Turner Revue, Smokey Wilson, and others, he played with the Pinetop Perkins Band, Joe Louis Walker & the Bosstalkers, and Seymour Duncan All-Stars. As a solo artist known for blending blues and funk, he led Chill Boy & the Firebirds, which opened for Pat Travers, Southside Johnny, and Booker T. and the MGs. He also collaborated with Steve White, and opened for Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and Junior Wells, both of whom he cited as mentors, as well as warming up shows for Koko Taylor, B.B. King, and others. He was a regular at open jams around town and was the 1999 winner of a Blues Foundation IBC (San Diego) Award. He also served as Director of the Blues Lovers United San Diego chapter. Usually based in the Cardiff area, he reportedly passed away earlier this month.