Johnny Rivers Has Some Advice For You

Hard to believe, but the Secret Asian Man is eligible for retirement.

I’m talking about Johnny Rivers, whose many hits include “Secret Agent Man,” which, when I first heard it in 1966, sounded like he was referring to Asian spies. It was partly Johnny's Baton Rouge-flavored enunciation, and part personal fantasy, since I was (and still am) Chinese myself.

Anyway, Rivers’ 65th birthday is, or was, on November 7th, and you can be sure he’s nowhere near retirement. His Web site (johnnyrivers.com) shows concert bookings into May 2008 already.

No surprise. When I first met him, one winter night in Los Angeles in 1998, he was playing a gig. My gig, as a matter of fact. I’d published a book on the history of Top 40 radio, called The Hits Just Keep On Coming (perfect title, hey?), and set up a panel discussion at the Museum of Television & Radio in Beverly Hills. Johnny sat in on the panel, telling about the role of the legendary DJ, Alan Freed, in his career.

Rivers grew up hanging around radio stations in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In 1957, he went to New York City on vacation and, guitar in hand, went to Freed’s station, WINS, and waited outside for him—“just like in the movies. And he came walking up with his manager, who was running his publishing company. I introduced myself, 'I'm John Ramistella. I have a band and I write songs.' He gave me his card and invited me to come up to his office in the Brill Building the next day to play him some of my songs. So I did, and he got right on the phone and called George Goldner, who had the labels Gone and End Records."

Soon, Johnny was in a studio and made his first record. It wasn’t a hit, but Johnny got studio experience—and more. It was Freed who advised him to change his name to “Rivers,” citing his proximity, in Louisiana, to the Mississippi River.

After the panel and a short reception, Johnny and his band performed a rooftop concert, and we’ve stayed in touch ever since. Most recently, I helped out in his efforts to write an autobiography. He was inspired mainly by his own, 40-something-year career, but also by a few paragraphs in the Bob Dylan memoirs, Chronicles Volume One, about his version of Dylan’s “Positively 4th Street.”

Dylan said that, “of all the versions of my recorded songs, the Johnny Rivers one was my favorite,” and that “when I listened to Johnny’s version of ‘Positively 4th Street,’ I liked his version better than mine.”

So, now, Johnny’s writing his own book. But it’s not a volume of braggadocio, or a tell-all. That’s not his style. It’s more of a cautionary tale, one that, even with all the changes in the music and recording industries, has lessons to impart to today’s aspiring entertainers. It begins with the title: Always Take Your Wallet On Stage.

Spoken like a secret Asian—er, agent man.

PS: I’ve started a radio show. It’s called “Backstage,” and it’s on KFRC, a legendary station in San Francisco, now playing “Classic Hits.” I play some hits; some misses, but it’s all great music. And I add soundbites from interviews past and present. It’s fun, and you can hear it over www.KFRC.com on Sundays, from 7-9 a.m. and 7-9 p.m., Pacific time. Let me know what you think!

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