I have seventeen hours of video of Harry and myself, recording a “next album” as far as Harry was concerned, putting down basic tracks for Harry, with guest musicians Jimmi Accardi, Menlo Macfarlane, Bob Bachtold and more, and the engineering talent of world-famous audio engie Oz Fritz. Some of the songs we sang at those sessions were a few of my new songs that Harry and I talk about before recording them, some of them were Jimmi’s songs, and some were just blues from Kansas City & thereabouts.
Also in my storage are hundreds of black & white and color photos never seen by anyone except Harry & myself, and hours of videotape and audio tape of Harry and myself talking about various issues, along with many souvenirs, mostly signed, from Harry, George, John & Ringo — I never spent time with Paul, although he sent me a few signed treasures now & again.
So what do I do with all this unreleased stuff? Nothing. I’ve heard back from NO ONE, either from family or friend or representative, that anyone is interested in any of the material I have about Harry, unpublished and unseen. What a waste. I wrote a book about my Hollywood days, perhaps if I finish the book, which looks unlikely with all my other much more serious obligations, some of the photos might appear there someday.
In the photo above, Capitol Records singing star Peggy Lee, a longtime friend, had called to sing me a Happy Birthday, and Harry just happened to be sitting there in my dining room, so I put him on the phone with her, and they sang a duet, which I have recorded on video. Behind Harry, you see “Cruciform Dimensions”, the original of the popular “Cruciform” print, signed & numbered, edition of 50, now selling at $3500-$4500.
The smaller signed-in-the-plate version is only $25, printed on high-grade photo paper to capture the exact look & feel of the original as closely as possible in a multiple. The plate-signed print comes unmatted and unframed, and the $25 pricetag is the wholesale, no discounts beyond that, sorry.
I used to design all of Peggy’s personal greeting cards, using photos of her amazing roses, and designed personal art cards for the Clintons and many celebrities during the 1960s and 1970s.
That’s Jimmi Accardi on the left, Bob Bachtold on the drums, left rear, Menlo Macfarlane at the right rear, that’s me at the keyboard and Harry, on the couch, right front, is on vocals.
For days and days we recorded and overdubbed. We made the basics that Harry carried away with him for his last album, but we were never acknowledged as the musicians or the owners of the original tapes from which his DAT was made, and we have the video footage of us recording that material with Harry, which would have been a nice addition to the Harry bio film and the Harry bio book, but we were not only never asked for them, my offers were ignored or rejected, it’s unclear which.
In the bio, this week-long recording session with Harry at the helm, was ignored and dismissed as “nothing”. I guess that’s the attitude, but it is good music and does represent Harry very well, in a very good light, so I don’t see the resistance to its release, do you?
Notably, Curtis Armstrong, who initiated the Nilsson bio project and got the funding going for it, was also cut out of the project, and it’s a big blank wall of silence out there when you try to get in contact. Who wants to put out time, effort and energy where it’s not wanted?
So that’s why I haven’t done anything with the huge amount of personal footage of 8mm film, video, color and black and white photos from the sixties — thousands of color photos from the 90s, but who cares anymore? Certainly not the family or the friends or the representatives of the estate, so … Burn them? Store them indefinitely? What?
See You At The Top!!!
gorby