By Tom Colvin
Buckle your seat belts, and get ready for a rare, unique in fact, experience here in Puerto Vallarta. Los Angeles cult band Billy Vera & the Beaters, which has been kicking ass for about a quarter century already, will be playing at the opening dinner for the 4th Annual Puerto Vallarta Film Festival.
In my decade-plus years here in PV, I've never witnessed a band like this one performing locally. Blending into the usual R&B mix of guitar, keyboard, bass and drums is a full four-member sax section – a true "big band" one rarely sees these days, anywhere.
Making the event here even more rare is the fact that the band NEVER plays outside of California. The band's too big for normal club tours, and currently it isn't promoting a new album which might fill up bigger venues. Moreover, the band members, most of them veterans of the band from its earliest days [a rare fact in itself], are too busy with their own music careers in LA recording studios to play except on one or two weekends a month somewhere near their LA base.
The band in fact has never appeared in Mexico before. Billy recently admitted, "I'm looking forward to this engagement. It's very exciting to be performing for a completely new audience and in a different locale."
Despite its narrow focus on southern California, the band is widely known. Referred to by Californians as "The Baddest Band on Any Stand," Billy Vera & The Beaters has had its share of hits over the years, the biggest of which, "At This Moment," made it to the top of the charts. The song was first propelled to hit status when it became the theme song of three episodes of Family Ties, during its 1985-1986 season. This song was brought back to international attention fairly recently by Clay Aiken on his march to becoming American Idol. [Aiken's American Idol rendition, by the way, is available for free download at YouTube, as is a performance by Billy Vera & The Beaters at the Hollywood Bowl].
Band leader and vocalist/guitarist Billy was born into show business [as Billy McCord] in 1944 in Riverside, California, with father Bill McCord working as a staff announcer for NBC in New York, where Billy grew up, and mother Ann Ryan working for a time as one of the Ray Charles Singers. Billy first recorded while still a teenager, and his song writing skills soon helped Ricky Nelson land on the hit charts with Billy's "Mean Old World." Billy himself made it onto the charts in the late 60's with "Storybook Children," a duet with Judy Clay, Dionne Warwick's cousin. In the late 70's, Dolly Parton recorded Billy's "I Really Got The Feeling," which rose to #1 on the country music charts. This hit led Billy to move to Los Angeles, where he formed the band Billy Vera & The Beaters in 1979 – "just for the fun of it," the band's website proclaims.
The band itself has earned a lot of credits, serving as house band for TV talk-show host Ricky Dees in the 90's, appearing in movies, and supplying the theme song for TV's "King of Queens" for nine seasons, among many other achievements.
Still today, 80% of the band is composed of members from its original days. That's astonishing in the volatile world of music. "The band's stability," Billy told me a few days ago, "is mainly due to the pride they feel in being in what they consider the best band in Los Angeles. They like the music we play, which is unlike what they're asked to play in other situations. They feel the songs are more interesting and more challenging."
Accompanying Billy to Puerto Vallarta will be bassist Chuck Fiore, who first played with him in New York before the two moved to Los Angeles in the late 1970's, keyboardist and band veteran Michael Murphy, guitarist Ricky Hirsch and drummer Willie Ornelis. The sax section is composed of charter members Lon Price, Ron Viola ["the handsomest man in Rock & Roll"] and Jerry Peterson, joined by the band's newest member Terry Landry.
The choice of Billy Vera to open the Film Festival is apt for reasons other than musical. He's also a veteran actor, with countless appearances in film and TV. More recently, his career as a voiceover talent for commercials and animated film has shouldered aside his acting career, but this development actually frees up more of his time for music. Over the years, Billy has written liner notes for over 200 albums, an activity growing from his interest in music history. He has also produced numerous albums. A very busy man, Billy says that he hasn't had a vacation in years. No wonder he's so happy to be coming down to Puerto Vallarta.
We, of course, will be equally happy to listen to him and the band. Some of the songs will certain appeal to us especially. "You Can't Go Home," for example, will touch us as it speaks about rampant development in one's old neighborhood. I myself look forward especially to the blues "I've Got A Room With A View,," which may well become the theme song of my hillside condo. And I anticipate that many of us will, at night's end, walk to the exit recalling the soulful ballad "Oh, What A Night!"
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