JOHNNY RIVERS, birthday boy!

Happy Birthday Johnny Rivers, resilient rocker of the Sunset Strip! (although he calls Las Vegas home these days, and himself an "artiste chanteur, auteur compositeur" on Facebook. I'm into Franglais aussi, moi.*) Rivers' brand of rowdy guitar-based rock that nonetheless encompassed bigtime chart hits helped forge the musical identity of the Sunset Strip in the early to mid 1960s. He proved to club owners that audiences ecshewed the old nightclub template of cocktail lounging and wanted to rawk! with Rivers' invariably sold out shows.

The above shot was taken at the 2008 Tribute to Elmer Valentine, late owner of the Whisky A Gogo that also featured former Strip denizens Stephen Stills, John Mayall, Chris Hillman and Hugh Masekela performing, see LINK for all my photos. "Secret Agent Man!" rules okay!

*Although my better half Mr. Twister insists this translates as "I'm an Australian!"